


Danganstars!

by serenlty



Category: Ensemble Stars! (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Character Death, Gen, Memory Loss, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, executions, i'll tag things they become relevant, mademoiselle has an actual role here oops, your favs will probably die or be accused and i'm sorry
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-06-29
Updated: 2018-02-03
Packaged: 2018-07-18 23:23:40
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 38
Words: 110,309
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7335202
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/serenlty/pseuds/serenlty
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>{ensemble stars x danganronpa}</p><p>It's a pretty normal day when Yumenosaki is taken over.  After being knocked unconscious, 32 people wake up, now being held captive within a strange replica of their own school, and forced into playing a 'killing game' of sorts.  How long can the idols last?</p><p>“Kill someone, and make sure that nobody finds out about your crime.  Then, you will be permitted to leave.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. 0-1 (prologue)

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for checking out my au! i hope you enjoy it, sorry if it's a bit too depressing ;_;

“Attention faculty and students, we are now entering lockdown mode. Again, we are entering lockdown mode. Thank you.” 

Soft complaints travel through the school's halls at the announcement, although most are glad for a break from class. By the time this drill is over, it’ll be time for a lunch break, so it's just extra free time, right? There's the sound of footprints traveling down the hall-probably an administrator coming to check that no one is in the hallways-and then a familiar silence fills the air. 

Elsewhere in the school, two figures are suddenly much more alert, almost innately so. It’s not a physical difference, one that can be seen, it’s more of a mental change if anything. It’s time for their plan to set into action, for them to be able to take action, to get revenge...if everything goes according to plan.

And, so far, that plan is going quite well.

There’s a soft thud from somewhere nearby, followed by a quiet hiss, kind of like air leaking from something. Most find themselves looking around in confusion- did someone drop something? No, that didn't seem to be the case. A couple more moments pass in calm silence. It was probably just an air vent turning on or off. While being in an uncomfortably hot or cold classroom wouldn’t be fun, it’s not the worst case scenario. Besides, it's just a lockdown drill. They take what, 10 minutes?

Moments later, the air in the room begins to change. At first, it seems to be smoke filling the classroom. Is there a fire? No, there would be sirens, or some kind of alarm. Then again, if there was a fire, wouldn’t there be an evacuation of some sort, and not a lock down? No, it’s definitely not smoke, then. It almost seems to be some sort of mist...although what it’s made of, that’s unknown. There’s another sound from somewhere else, although it sounds far off...a laugh of sorts, perhaps? After the laughter fades, the smoke filling the room becomes so thick that it’s impossible to see...impossible to breathe.

 

When Shinobu wakes up, he sees the rest of the school (at least, people he recognizes from the idol course), and he’s almost relieved that it wasn’t just his class that was targeted. The ninja in training remembers the fear filling his heart as quickly as the strange white fog did the air, and it was not much longer before the smoke was suffocating, making breathing a chore. Then, the panic had faded, along with the rest of reality. Sitting up and looking around a little more, the first-year sees that he’s probably the first one to wake up. His eyes are slightly foggy, and his head pounds-no wonder, he just got gassed-but he’s definitely more conscious than some of the other people in the room.

In the minutes that follow, the others begin to wake up, slowly assembling in their units, almost out of habit. Making his way to the rest of Ryuseitai and sitting in an almost dazed state near a still-sleeping Kanata, Shinobu watches the reactions of those around him. Most everyone seems to be just as confused as he feels, which comes as some kind of a relief. Remember, a ninja must be aware of his surroundings! Observation is key.

“Ryusei! Do any of you know what’s happening?” Chiaki’s voice is quieter than it normally is, but it’s still too loud, booming above the hushed whispers that fill the room the students are in. It’s a large area, although it’s completely devoid of any furniture or things that could otherwise be used to distinguish it. It’s not saying much, since he is a first year, but Shinobu’s not even sure he knew a room like this existed in the school. 

On the other side of the room, he sees Mika, who seems to be cautiously, very cautiously, trying to calm a very, very worked up Shu. The problem? Mademoiselle seems to be missing. Shu insists that she was right there, next to his desk, when the lockdown had started, but now she was gone, nowhere to be seen. With the other nearly in hysterics, Mika knows he needs to shut him up when Shu starts muttering that if anyone’s so much as harmed a hair on her head, he’ll return the favor tenfold. Surely, he's overreacting, but it doesn't change the fact that everyone's a bit too tense for things like that to be said. Did someone kidnap them or something? What actually happened?

Mika presses a finger to his own lips, angrily shushing Shu and gesturing wildly to the scene around the two, yet unable to hide the wild fear in his own eyes. It’s becoming more and more obvious that no one really knows what’s going on. Even the look on Eichi’s face, the student council president, the damned 'Emperor', is one of genuine confusion. ‘If Eichi doesn’t know what’s going on...does that mean that there’s an outside force at play here? Like, an intruder?’ Mika doesn’t voice his concern-he knows he’s not always the brightest, so surely, others have been falling down the same line of reasoning as him.

The last person to wake up, is, not a surprise, Ritsu. And saying he woke up was generous...a rather frustrated looking Izumi got sick of waiting for the boy to wake up, and nailed him in the back with his foot. After he does so, Ritsu slowly sits up, giving Izumi a deathly glare but not saying anything. His red eyes scan the room silently, before pointing off to an area of the room where there doesn’t seem to be a unit gathered. It's the only place in the room with any sort of inanimate object in it as well-something that seems to be a short, wooden bookcase. 

“What did you wake me up for, to show me some stupid doll?” Izumi, and the rest of Knights for that matter, follow Ritsu’s pale hand to see a small doll, standing quietly on the top of the bookcase at the far corner of the room, closest to the only exit from said room. Izumi’s breath hitches because he recognizes that doll, and the long blonde ringlets that fall around its head. ‘It’s that Itsuki kid’s doll!’ he realizes, wondering how the doll even got that far away from its owner in the first place. Then again, they were all knocked unconscious, so who really knows what’s going on? It definitely wouldn’t be hard for someone, likely whoever gassed the school, to come take the doll-the only problem is that there’s no real reason to. It's a doll, how is it so significant to potentially kidnapping 32 people?

Without warning the doll suddenly moves. It’s a small movement, its small arms shifting to adjust the many layers of blue fabric making up the skirt of the dress it’s wearing, but Izumi catches it, and he doesn’t think he’s the only one.

“Secchan, did that thing just move?” Ritsu looks slightly bewildered, his red eyes more alert than they normally. Izumi nods, finding himself speechless, because dolls don’t move like that. Unless they're possessed or something, they just don’t. It’s not until the doll continues moving, taking fluid steps towards the group, that Izumi and Ritsu realize something is definitely not right. Did the person who moved the doll modify it, too? That could get ugly. For a moment, Izumi finds himself missing Leo-surely his usual antics could lighten the intense atmosphere at least a little. 

“I know Valkyrie can be a bit...odd, at times, but they didn’t really posses a doll, right? Surely Mika-chan would have told me, after all.” Arashi’s slightly strained voice startles the duo, who both turn to look at her. Her bright eyes widen as the doll continues to move, walking closer and closer to the center of the room with small, measured steps that can hardly be seen under the thick skirts the doll wears. It gives the illusion that the doll is floating, or gliding-something entirely too unsettling whether it happened inside or outside of the situation at hand. 

“Don’t be stupid. It’s probably a robot look-alike or something.” Izumi snaps back quietly, although he is a bit confused about the ‘doll’ himself. Arashi opens her mouth to say something, but her response is cut of by a clear, definitely feminine voice, cutting sharply through the dull chatter in the empty room.

“Attention please!” The room goes silent at once, because it’s fairly unusual to hear a female voice in the school...Izumi notices that that blonde from Undead, the one in his class, looks all too happy to hear the voice before he realizes that it’s coming from a doll. Then again, that’s never stopped him. The attention of the room’s occupants does, in fact, shift to the small figure standing dead center, in a place where everyone can see her.

“Mademoiselle?” Mika and Shu speak at the same time, and Mika’s arm shoots out to grab Shu’s when the pink-haired boy takes a step towards the room. Shu turns to shoot a sharp gaze at the smaller boy, who flinches a little in response, but his grip doesn’t loosen.

“...’ts not her..” he mumbles, looking down. “She doesn’t talk, right?” His eyes remain fixed on the floor, even as Shu takes a hesitant breath before sitting back down, muttering something about ‘You better be right, Kagehira.’ Mika nods, the gesture so small it’s almost unnoticed. He fidgets uncomfortably a little on the floor, Shu’s sharp violet gaze still on him, but the second year says nothing else.

“Thank you.” The doll smiles, again in a way that is entirely too unsettling, and quite honestly, too human. Her hands fold neatly in front of her, a small smile on her porcelain features. The way she moves is too fluid, and Izumi thinks that Arashi’s comment about Valkyrie possessing a doll might not be too incorrect. Then again, they’d have to be pretty damn good actors to keep a up the confused act they seem to be putting on right now.

“Mademoiselle...what is going on?” Of course it’s Eichi who speaks, addressing the doll like she’s a human in his usual composed manner. However, if Eichi is unaware of what’s going on, then it really means that there’s an outside force at play, right? After all, he is the student council president-it’s pretty unlikely something on this scale would get past him. While it is possible that he could be in on a scheme, his confusion-everyone's confusion- seems to be too genuine for that to be the case.

In response, the blonde doll laughs, her eyes narrowing slightly as she looks a little too pleased with herself. That doesn't makes much sense, though. Unless that doll is just a puppet for whoever is behind this plan, she wouldn't be involved in this mess, and she probably wouldn’t be laughing happily about it either. Ugh, why is he thinking about this thing if it's a human with a consciousness? Obviously someone is controlling it, and that someone is the one behind this scene. 

“You all have been selected to participate in...a team building activity of sorts. A game, if you will.” The female voice, which begins to sound slightly more robotic the longer Izumi listens to it, continues to speak. It’s definitely one of those sounds that could drive a person to insanity just from hearing it too much. “One that requires you to stay here in the academy for an...indefinite time period.”

“Indefinite? What does that mean, exactly?” It's not clear who spoke loud enough to be heard over the chaos that followed the doll’s words, as most of the room had something to comment on them. The doll sighs in response, hanging her head and shaking it slightly. 

“Essentially, you will be staying here for the rest of your lives.” The room grows loud again, people turning to ask others what that means in disbelief. After all, it’s practically impossible for one person to watch thirty two others to ensure they don’t escape, right? There’s no way whoever is behind this scheme can keep tabs on everyone, unless the force behind this ‘game’ is much stronger than anyone actually thought.

“But...the school isn’t guarded and sealed like a prison! It’s easy to get in and out. Won't we just be able to run away?” Subaru, optimistic as ever, points out. One of his hands gestures wildly to the windows, which have thick curtains (probably blackout curtains, actually) pulled down over them, and nearly hits an unsuspecting Mao in the process. The redhead flinches as the hand goes past him, his eyes following the flying limb. 

Mademoiselle gives another one of her unsettling laughs, something Izumi realizes he's going to have to get used to pretty damn soon. There’s a small sound of a mechanical whirl, although the source of the noise is unclear, before the doll speaks. 

“You will have access to the campus grounds, true, but I think you will find it quite a challenge to escape.” The curtains over slowly draw up, revealing the school’s campus as it always appears-except now, the entire grounds are surrounded by a very tall, tightly woven, barbed wire fence. A fence that probably ten feet tall, probably taller. ‘How long have we been unconscious? It couldn’t have been easy to build a fence like that, and surely it took a good amount of time to build as well.’

“And if you happen to be thinking you can climb over that fence with protective equipment, you should know that that too, is impossible. It happens to be an electric fence, with enough voltage to kill a whale.” 

A chilling silence sweeps through the room as 32 sets of eyes travel to see the fence towering around the school. To say it’s out of place is an understatement-especially with the current backdrop being nothing but bright sun, clear aquamarine skies, and leafy trees. It’s almost like someone put a prison in the middle of a park. The temporarily deafening silence, however, doesn’t stay: it’s replaced with everyone realizing the height of the situation.

“There has to be some way for us to escape, right?” Once more, it’s unclear who’s speaking, but Mademoiselle’s response doesn’t go unheard. In retrospect, it probably would be a lot better if no one actually heard her words.

“I suppose, yes, there is a way to get out, as long as you are not fazed by a little blood.”

“What do you mean?” Someone blurts out angrily as the temperature in the room drops another ten degrees, and Mademoiselle immediately turns in the direction of the voice. It’s not as if she can hurt anyone-she is just a doll, after all, but the room goes dead silent again.

“Kill someone, and make sure that nobody finds out about your crime. Then, you will be permitted to leave.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi welcome to my regret compilation  
> thanks for joining the ride!
> 
> hmu on twitter @squirrellissa


	2. 0-2 (prologue)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Maybe, just maybe, Mika thinks, they can make it out. Hopefully, no one will have to die.
> 
> Maybe that's just wishful thinking.
> 
> Hopefully, it’s not.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this wasn't supposed to be done by now but it is so i'm gonna post it  
> mika is my precious son and i love him and want him to be happy  
> also!!! i use she/they pronouns for arashi!! i'm sorry if this disagrees with your preference it just is what i wish to use

Mika’s first reaction upon hearing Mademoiselle’s instructions was to panic. He knew, looking around the room, that he wasn’t alone, but stressful situations had never been his friend to begin with. He could hardly believe that any of this was real in the first place, it was all way too surreal, but part of him also trusted that no one would try to kill anyone, at least not yet. After all, the group had little to no information on their situation. Despite the anxiety currently trying to drown him, Mika knew that he had to at least try to remain somewhat rational. That way, if this wasn’t some sick joke, he’d have a chance at survival.

“There is another additional detail I should add,” Mademoiselle begins. “Each one of you will be given an electronic identification card that will also serve as a rulebook, and have a few other functions. They are placed in the card readers to each dormitory room on the floor below this one, as each of you will have a room for your...extended stay. It would do you well to keep track of you card, seeing as they will double as room keys...and staying the night outside of a dormitory room is...well, I do not think you would care to discover what happens when you break a rule.”

“Rules? Like what?” Tori squeaks out from the other side of the room, sounding equally terrified and indignant as he speaks.

“I would recommend you read through your card’s rulebook at the nearest opportunity...it would be quite a shame if someone were to break a rule on accident. Besides that, I have nothing else to say.” Mademoiselle gives a small curtsy, the all-too-human smile settling back on her porcelain features. Her small figure makes its way towards the room’s door, which shuts behind her with a soft click.

Much to Mika’s surprise, no one moves. He knows that running from Shu will probably just bring consequences to him later, so he stays put; but some of the room’s other occupants seem like they’re more than itching to run as far away from this room as possible.

“We need a way to keep track of each other. Some sort of schedule.” Eichi addresses the room seriously, and Mika finds himself nodding slowly in agreement.

“Why don’t we meet for breakfast? That way, everyone will be able to eat and..if something happen overnight…” Mika’s fairly surprised, that’s the most he’s ever heard Adonis say at one time. Then again, based on what he’s heard from Naru-chan, the boy really loves his food, so the breakfast comment isn’t too out of place. ‘If only I could be that relaxed,’ Mika sighs, staring at the other’s calm demeanor.

No one speaks after that, but there seems to be some mutual agreement made through nods and the occasional awkward clearing of a throat. After the first few people begin to leave, Shu excuses himself, Mika awkwardly scrambling behind the taller boy to catch up as he stalks out of the room, looking rather displeased. Mika can only imagine-Mademoiselle probably means more to Shu than any human he can think of.

Shu takes off way faster than Mika had anticipated, leaving the younger boy unable to catch up. His mind going to what Mademoiselle had said about rules, he makes his way downstairs. The ‘dormitories’, as Mademoiselle had called them, were in a long, single hallway, with a room on each side. Mika found his easily-a bit far down the hallway, in between Yuzuru and Eichi, and across from Keito. The thought of Eichi’s room being next to his made Mika a little uneasy, but he also knew that most of his opinion of Eichi was based on what Shu would say, and, well...Shu wasn’t always the kindest person. His opinion was a justified opinion, of course, and Mika knew, but maybe he’d be able to find some good in Eichi before this mess got too...messy.

Maybe that was just wishful thinking.

Mika slid the ID card through the reader on the door, a small beep coming from the door alerting him to the fact that his door was unlocked. Pushing the door behind him, enough to move it but not enough to close, Mika enters his room.

The first thing he realizes is that it’s Valkyrie themed. The whole room has a black and red theme going, with what looks like velvet and satin and lace adorning what appears to be his bed, and the curtains framing large windows that hang elegantly to the floor. One window is open, the curtain around it fluttering slightly and indicating a slight breeze that probably would go unnoticed otherwise.

Unfortunately, the walls are also a dark red color, which is a bit oppressive the more Mika looks at it. Shaking his head to clear his vision of the color, which he can’t help but associate with blood, given the current dilemma, his eyes spot a large, bronze gear on one of the walls. Below it is a desk and a chair, which match the room’s theme well. There’s a light switch in the entryway next to Mika, which he flips on before going to get a closer look at the gear.

A golden light comes from an elegant fixture on the ceiling, and one on the wall near the switch. Mika can’t help but wonder where someone got the money to do this, because it clearly wasn’t cheap. Approaching the gear, he runs his fingers over the surface, which seems to be made out of real metal and is cold to the touch. Reflecting the blue glow of the sky outside and the golden lights from the room, the gear almost looks like some sort of magical object, something that’s too pretty to touch. ‘Too pretty to touch? I’ve been spending too much time with Shu.’ Mika thinks, stepping away anyways.

He sits on the foot of his bed, and taps the screen of the ID card. He’s never really seen anything like this before, so it’s a bit confusing, but Mika manages to find the rule book. It seems to double as a guidebook as well, but at this point, any information is probably useful.

‘Notice: Any infraction will result in punishment.

A night time period will begin at 11 pm every day, and last until 7 am the following day. This is to ensure everyone is alert enough to participate in team-building activities. While you do not have to be in your room when nighttime begins, it is highly recommended. Running water also shuts off during nighttime.  
Sleeping outside of a dormitory, or the in the case of illness, the infirmary, is prohibited.  
Breakfast will be served at exactly 7 am every day. Students will be responsible for all other meals.  
Security cameras have been installed in every location through the campus to ensure safety and adherence to rules.  
No student is allowed to leave the Yumenosaki Academy campus unless they have executed a successful murder.  
After a murder, there will be an investigation period, followed by a ‘class trial’, where student try to discover the culprit. Failure to find the true culprit will result in punishment, so investigate thoroughly!  
Other additional rules may be added as needed.’

Mika reads the list a second time, and then a third, for good measure. He knows he can be a bit forgetful at times, so drilling these rules into his brain at the earliest opportunity possible is probably beneficial to him. Mika’s on his fourth time going down the list when a hand grabs his shoulder, causing the boy to fall off the foot of his bed, into someone’s legs. Blushing in embarrassment and sitting back on the foot of his bed, Mika looks up to see a rather amused looking Arashi.

“Mika-chan, you’ve gotta be careful! Letting your guard down like that is bad! What if someone tries to hurt you?” Arashi smiles, but there’s a serious to her normally flirtatious tone that MIka rarely hears. He nods, a little distracted by the way Arashi’s hair shines perfectly under the golden lighting of his room.

“Heh, sorry, Naru-chan…” Mika scratches the back of his neck, shrugging a little in apology.

“Don’t apologize! I just don’t want any harm to come to my Mika-chan!” Arashi sits down next to Mika, making a dramatic fall look rather graceful, and Mika sighs.

“D’you...think this is for real?” He asks, a little afraid. Mika’s not sure if he should actually just take this as a joke, or if that’s just him trying to be an escapist. He hear’s Arashi’s breath catch in her throat for a moment, before she lightly clears it and turns to Mika with a wary smile.

“I….I don’t know, Mika-chan. I hope it’s a joke, but until we can know for sure that it isn’t, we should all be on guard. With this many people, it wouldn’t be hard to off someone and blame it on someone else…” Her voice is serious, calm, and Mika almost feels like he’s talking to an adult for a moment and not his classmate and friend.

The first day fades into night, the sunset painting the sky in mockingly beautiful colors. Mika stares outside, thinking calmly on the day’s events. Shu had disappeared, and so Mika had gone with Arashi to investigate with the other two members of the track team. He couldn’t help but be a little bit jealous of the close relationship the three seemed to have, but neither of the other two were cold towards him in any ways, which was nice. It had taken a while for Mika to realize that he wasn’t following through with a nervous habit of hiding one of his mismatched eyes under his hair, yet no one had commented on it.

Everything in the school seemed to be exactly as Mika remembered. From the layout of the practice rooms and the classrooms to the color of the plants in the school garden, it seemed as if Mika had simply blinked himself into another universe. Another, crueler universe.

Mika ate dinner with the three as well, although he wasn’t particularly hungry. There seemed to be a vast array of food in the kitchen and in the cafeteria itself, which was nice-at least that part of life would be a little bit interesting. Pulling his fourth candy from his pocket and unwrapping it (at least those hadn’t been touched!), Mika listened to the comments of ‘you should eat more!’ coming from his group. They all seemed to express it differently- Adonis would say it directly, Arashi would make jokes, and Mitsuru would try to subtly pass Mika food when he thought the other boy wasn’t looking.

A few minutes in, Mika was saved from another lecture by a large bang, which startled the four initially, but was actually just announcing the presence of Ryuseitai. It was impressive that the group had managed to stick together, but Chiaki had always seemed like the leaderly type, so he probably did a good job calming tensions within that group during the first day. From what he could tell, Shinobu was excitedly chattering about finding lots of frogs with Tetora, Kanata was trailing behind, and Chiaki was trying to cheer up Midori. Mika honestly wondered how he did it.

The group sat at the table next to Mika’s, exchanging friendly hello’s and their discoveries. It seemed as if Ryuseitai had reached the same conclusion-there was nothing different in the school, apart from the mysterious addition of the dormitory building where everyone had woken up. There was a brief period of speculation on how that building came to exist, but no one could come up with a reasonable answer, so the topic was dropped.

Despite not being a huge fan of social interactions, Mika felt strangely recharged when everything was done. Maybe it was just being around new, friendly people, but he felt as if his anxiety about the whole situation was decreasing rapidly.

Well, it would have been, if not for the walk back to the dormitories.  
Mika wasn’t sure who said it-it was just someone passing by, but Mika was sure they were talking about plotting to kill someone. Without realizing it, Mika had stopped dead in his tracks, causing about half of Ryuseitai to nearly collide with him. Arashi turned around when she realized Mika was no longer by her side, giving him a confused look. He shakes his head and continues walking, but doesn’t continue the conversation him and Arashi were having. He can’t even remember what it was.

“Hey, Naru-chan?” Mika speaks up after a couple moments of tense silence. Arashi makes a small noise in response, as if telling Mika to continue. She seems a little concerned.

“Promise...ya won’t die? I..I’ll protect ya with my life, if I’ve gotta…” Mika coughs, feeling a little embarrassed. He’s not sure what else he can really say-Arashi is such an amazing person and Mika hates to even entertain the thought of harm coming to her.

“Mika-chan, I’m not going to die. Neither are you. We’ll protect each other!” Mika smiled, because Arashi said that pretty loudly, and soon others in their large group are joining, making promises to not kill, and to protect each other from harm.

Maybe, just maybe, Mika thinks, they can make it out. Hopefully, no one will have to die.

Maybe that's just wishful thinking.

Hopefully, it’s not.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> how do i write mika's accent: the novel by me  
> the story starts next chapter and then people will die pretty soon  
> the first trial is gonna make me hate myself but it's okay :)
> 
> come add to my regret on twitter @squirrellissa


	3. 1-1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The fact that almost nothing about the school had changed made the scenario feel more like reality, more accurately, a real-life nightmare.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i really hope people are not out of character here! i've never really written the twins before and i think it shows a little because how do they talk??? i did my best  
> ALSO IM SORRY THIS SHOULD HAVE BEEN DONE A WHILE AGO BUT THEN THE EVENT STARTED (yuzu dropped for me so i'm okay now) AND I'M GETTING READY FOR A CON AND ZERO TIME DILEMMA CAME OUT AND ITS BEEN ~chaos~

The next morning, it initially seems that all the peace from last night has been forgotten. No, nobody died. The atmosphere just feel infinitely heavier and darker than it did eight hours ago, probably because thirty two people had just spent the majority of those 8 hours pondering whether or not they’d still be alive at the end of the week. Even though the group had agreed on meeting for breakfast, which was at 7:00, most people didn’t come in until 7:15 or later, almost as if they were trying to avoid human contact.

The reason was clear-of course, everyone was probably a little bit wary. Nobody really wanted to the the first one there, because if there were only two people in a room, that could put either one in mortal danger. However, that didn’t seem to stop Chiaki from going to the rooms of each Ryuseitai member at 6:30 and all but barging through the door; telling each member that they had to get ready to go, breakfast was at 7:00 and a hero is never late for anything!  
Somehow, maybe it’s just because they trust their leader, the rest of Ryuseitai is assembled in the lobby of the dormitory building at 6:55. There’s a silent sort of relief amongst the group-none of their members were gone. Stepping outside, the sun is as bright as yesterday, but the atmosphere still feels heavy.

Staring up at the sky, Shinobu squinted at the early morning sun’s yellow light. This kind of light always made him think of the uniform he wore for Ryuseitai’s lives. It hit the first year with a weird kind of pain, a sudden thought that if all of this was for real, then there might never be another Ryuseitai practice again. Shinobu quickly abandons the thought, however, because no one else is worried, so he shouldn’t be, either.

When the entire group arrives to breakfast, it feels as if someone’s just replaced all the oxygen in the cafeteria. With only mild complaining, an agreement is reached to push tables together into one long table, where everyone will be able to see each other and talk. Everyone seems to be sticking to their units, for the most part, but that formality seems to be wearing off a little bit. Even so, when Subaru throws himself down next to Eichi, of all people, the rest of Trickstar is a little confused.

No one says anything, they just sit down with him, but the looks he notices are somehow enough for Subaru to start laughing. He runs his hand over the arm of the metal chair, a faint smile on his face.

“This chair’s so shiny~!” Across from him, Hokuto nearly slams his head into the table, because oh my god Subaru that is literally one of the worst reasons to make any decision. Oblivious to the other’s reactions, Subaru leans in a little bit.

“So what do you guys think of this game? There’s no way it’s for real, right?” The smile on his face is too bright for someone who’s talking about the reality of a life-or-death game. Before anyone from Trickstar can respond to tell him that, however, the group is interrupted by Eichi.

“Isara-kun, did you have idea that this might happen?” Mao looks at the blonde, visibly confused for a moment, before shaking his head rapidly.

“No..sorry, Kaichou.” Eichi nods wordlessly, turning back to Keito, who’s sitting on his other side. The two are talking about something, although it’s much too quiet to be heard. There’s a slightly awkward smile when the Trickstar members meet each other’s eyes, with an unspoken knowledge that the chances of this whole scene being ‘just a joke’ are decreasing exponentially.

It’s close to eight o’ clock when the room begins to quiet down a little, no one leaving but instead trying to hear other’s conversation. When the fact becomes obvious the room goes silent, before anyone can hear anything of importance.  
“Why don’t we just share what we know before anyone can get suspicious? After all, we didn’t-” Mao’s tired voice is cut off by a feminine giggle. Subaru’s eyes quickly scan the room-the sound is one burned into his memory, after all. After a few moments, his eyes fall on the blonde doll, who’s standing on the middle of the table calmly, as if she owned it. Well, at this point, she might have.

“I am truly sorry to interrupt your lovely discussion, but I thought you all might wish to know something important. Tomorrow morning, at exactly eight o’clock, every single one of you is to report to the room where you first woke up. Failure to arrive by the designated time will...result in punishment, so be wary.” With the trademark smile on her pale face, the doll gracefully slides off of the table, turning to leave the cafeteria.

There’s a bit of an awkward silence afterwards, where no one wants to be the first person to speak. A couple people clear their throats, trying to fill the silence, but no one speaks until Chiaki’s voice comes from the other end of the table.

“Ryuseitai spent most of the day yesterday searching for a hole in the fence! We are sorry to report that nothing was found.” He reports, looking at each other member of the group as if needing confirmation.

“The electricity coming off the fence is really strong! It buzzes, kind of like bugs, so there were a bunch of frogs around the fence!” Shinobu adds on, smiling as if he’s oblivious to anything except the frogs. Next to him, Midori lets his head drop onto the table top, muttering something about ‘If I have to hear about frogs one more time..’

“We spent most of our time inside the buildings on campus.” Eichi starts from back near Trickstar. “It seems like nothing has been taken out or added, for the time being.”

Despite going around and around the table for several minutes, it’s pretty easy to reach the conclusion that no one has any new information. The school was the same as it had ever been, although it was worth noting that chemistry labs contained some very poisonous chemicals, the garden shed had a plethora of weapons as well, along with the kitchen, which had an abnormally large amount knives. Another interesting point was that two rooms had been renamed- standard classrooms whose names had been changed to ‘biology lab’ and another one with a blank sign outside. Both were on the school’s top floor, and were locked.

After a few more minutes of grasping air, people started to break away, whether it be to try finding a clue or just to remove themselves from the increasing tension. The fact that almost nothing about the school had changed made the scenario feel more like reality, more accurately, a real-life nightmare.

Shinobu found himself in an empty classroom on the school’s top floor not too long after the meeting in the cafeteria disbanded. The windows were cracked open, and were clear enough to act as mirrors. The air outside was still now, and oppressively hot as well, prompting most to spend their times indoors. The thought of impending doom was slowly wrapping itself around the first-year’s mind in the silence-although thinking of how confident his unit’s leader was that no one would be hurt, those thoughts could easily be dispelled.

‘Maybe I’ll train...I can’t let Ryuseitai down! I have to be ready to spring into action at any given moment!’ Shinobu smiled to himself, getting more and more involved with his thoughts before the door to the empty room swung open suddenly. Shinobu struck a slightly embarrassing, defensive pose, ready to strike, although he quickly relaxed when he saw that it was simply the twins.

“See, Aniki! I told you he’d be here!” Yuuta smirked a little at his brother before turning to Shinobu. “That was a weird pose...is something wrong?” Shinobu shook his head quickly, bowing slightly.

“No, everything is alright! You just frightened me.” He explained quickly, straightening up before adding a, “Is there something you need?”

It’s Hinata’s turn to smirk, pushing his brother to the side lightly. “You see, we were thinking of-” If the matching looks on the twin’s faces were anything to go by, they were clearly planning some of their usual mischief.

Given the circumstances, Shinobu found it fairly easy to refuse.

“Geez, Shinobu-kun. You’re taking this whole thing really seriously.” Yuuta commented, looking over to Shinobu. Along with the twins, he’s made his way outside into the horrible heat, sitting on the edge of the large stone fountain. The spray from the fountain was nice, enough to feel cool without actually getting anything wet. 

Shinobu shrugged in response, swinging his feet back and forth lightly. His hand rested on one of his pants pockets, the faint edge of an object visible under the fabric. In all honesty, it was a bit of a surprise that Shinobu hadn’t lost the stars when everyone had been knocked out. Then again, the twins had their headphones, so maybe personal belongings hadn’t been taken.

“I have to be ready for anything. A hero is never unprepared, after all!” From his other side. Hinata laughed a little at that.

“You’re really starting to sound like Morisawa-senpai, you know~?”

 

The next morning went just the same as the previous one, although everyone showed up a little bit sooner. Most likely because there was the looming threat of punishment for not making it to the ‘assembly’ at eight. While it hadn’t been specified what ‘punishment’ was yet, it definitely sounded like something to avoid.

Just as promised, everyone had assembled in the room where they had woken up by eight o’clock. No one really knew what to expect, especially when the blackout curtains over the windows began to slide down, a large screen rolling down from the ceiling against one wall. From his position in the front, Souma could make out the faint outline of the doll, glowing in what little sunlight remained until the room was eventually enveloped in darkness.

His hand immediately flew to his side before remembering that the sword was nowhere to be seen. It hadn’t been there when he had woken up, much to Souma’s displeasure. His heart caught in his throat for a moment-without the sword there was an unfamiliar feeling of uselessness that like to wash over him from time to time. However, the screen flickered to life moments later, filling the room with a dull glow before an image came onto the screen.

It was the academy, destroyed. Before too much detail could be seen, the image began to move. It was showing some kind of strange, post-apocalyptic version of the school-windows broken, walls crumbling or missing, the place overrun with once well-trimmed plants. 

The image changed then, to a newspaper clipping. The headline wasn’t visible, although from what could be seen, the article seemed to be speaking of some kind of tragedy. There were statistics, listing numbers of dead and wounded-both of which seemed to have a large amount. The image then panned out, to reveal the newspaper’s headline: ‘Idols gone Rogue’.

“Is this real?” Souma asked under his breath, certain no one would hear him. He didn’t really know who or why he was asking, it wasn’t like there was an answer that could be easily obtained. The newspaper began to flash back and forth with the image of the school, destroyed: one image, then the other. One, and then the other. The speed of the images switching sped up until the point where it was just a discolored blur, and the screen turned dark for a moment before two lines of stark white text appeared on the ebony backdrop.

What happened while you were asleep?  
Escape to find out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so, there's the motive, i guess!  
> yes, someone dies next time :) about time too everyone is currently too happy  
> also i've realized after posting this it's a lot shorter than i thought???? shit well the next chapter should be longer..
> 
> come help me hate myself for this on twitter @squirrellissa


	4. 1-2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The second the door was open, Mika knew something was wrong. There was just something wrong with the air in the room-it felt heavy and warm, as if it was made out of something besides oxygen and nitrogen. Even with just the moon’s light, which seemed to be shining far too brightly, it was easy to see why everything felt wrong.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yyyyyyyyyyeaaaaa it's done!  
> also for the purposes of this au, leo and tsukasa haven't met  
> also thank you to @tsukayuuta on twitter for giving me tips on how to write the twins you have saved my sorry soul

The room was silent. Too silent, in fact. In his mind, Yuuta was desperately trying to convince himself that what they’d just seen wasn’t real. Surely, there was some crazy technology that enabled the driving force here to create a video like that. And, ‘Idols gone Rogue’? What was that supposed to mean? It seemed to imply that there had been a massacre of some sort, but there was no way that nobody in this room remembered an event like that.

“It seems some of you are doubting my legitimacy,” Mademoiselle complained from her position at the side of the screen. “You all should know that everything you just saw was real footage. However, you may not remember it...you see, I had to do a bit of tampering to make you all cooperative again.”

“Cooperative?” He hadn’t meant to speak, but the question came out before Yuuta could stop it. He did want to know what was going on, but like the saying goes, ignorance is bliss.

“You’ll figure it out. Or are you so dumb that you can’t even do that?” Mademoiselle snapped suddenly, turning to face the boy with a fire in her mechanical eyes. He took a small step back, looking towards his brother for something to ground him, before the doll cleared her throat and turned to address the rest of the group.

“I apologize for my outburst. It was very unladylike of me.” She gave a small curtsy before continuing. “Thank you all for attending. If you have any more question...well, I think you know what needs to be done.” Her high, clear voice still hanging in the air, Mademoiselle disappeared again, as calm as if she hadn’t had her outburst just moments ago.

“Does this mean we killed someone? That can’t be right!” The twins and Shinobu were back at the fountain where they had sat the day before, but all three found it hard to stay still. Who wouldn’t be at least a little bit jumpy if they were probably just told they killed an untold amount of people? Even if they hadn’t been so jumpy, it would have been hard to sit anyways. It was hardly nine o’clock, but the sun was already beating down enough to turn metal and concrete hot enough to burn.

“Yuuta, relax. It was probably just a trick to get us to start killing each other. That’s what this person wants, right? Don’t fall into their trap, you’re better than that.” Hinata’s smile was large and bright, but it was obviously a little forced. Yuuta was tempted to snap back, but there was a bit of truth to his words. That was right. Whoever was responsible for this mess just wanted chaos...so they just had to remain strong against the attempts to drag them into the chaos.

“What Mademoiselle can’t be true. After all, ninjas and heroes don’t kill people, right?” Shinobu’s smile was smaller, but just as forced as Hinata’s. It was clear that everyone was uneasy, unnerved by the video they’d seen.

“R-right. And they never will.”

 

On the other side of the school, Trickstar was on a mission. Sort of.

“Remind me again why we’re doing this?” Hokuto stared at the back of Subaru’s head as the fiery boy stood in front of a dorm room’s door.

“Sakuma-senpai knows a lot about the school, right? Surely, he knows something about what’s going on!”

“We don’t even know if he’s in his room, though. Besides, we could have checked other places, like the Student Council Room or something.” Arms crossed, Hokuto was almost glad that Mao took the words out of his mouth. Their friend had made up his mind, and he was clearly not going to change it any time soon. Even Makoto, who normally went along with Subaru’s antics with little hesitation, seemed a little bit suspicious of this plan. Raising his fist, Subaru knocked on the door roughly, the dull sound echoing a little bit off of the walls. A few moments later, the door swung open, nearly hitting the boy as it moved.

“Akehoshi-kun?” Rei seemed slightly surprised to see Subaru and the rest of Trickstar standing at his door.

“Sakuma-senpai! We were wondering if you knew anything about what’s going on, like in that video! Since you seem to know so much about the school already.” A slightly confused expression crossed Rei’s face before he laughed slightly, leaning against the doorframe. When he did so, Subaru could see into the room behind him-although not very well, as most things seemed to be just...dark.

Maybe this meant that everyone’s rooms were based off of their units? Subaru knew his room was a bit reminiscent of Trickstar, although he hadn’t said anything about it. Narrowing his eyes a little bit, he was pretty sure that he could make out the outline of the coffin from the Light Music Club’s room, the propped neatly against the side. However, before he could look closer, he was distracted by his senior’s voice.

“I’m afraid I’m as new to this as the rest of you. Nothing like this has ever happened before, as far as I can recall..”

“Oh.” Subaru looked down, a little ashamed that he had been wrong. “Sorry to disturb you, then.” There were a couple more minutes of slightly awkward exchanges, mostly just trying to pick details out of the video, before Subaru was reminded by Makoto of the fact that they were going to go check the Student Council Room to see if there was anything useful there.

After stopping to eat lunch in the cafeteria (they were the only ones there, it seemed), Trickstar made their way to the Student Council Room. The door was slightly ajar, and a couple voices could be heard from inside. The four stopped for a moment, trying to hear through the crack before Mao quietly interjected.

“It’s Eichi and Keito. They probably had the same idea as us. They probably aren’t out to hurt anyone yet.” The redhead shrugged, his hand on the doorknob. Pausing for a second to make sure no one objected, he was met with silence, and opened the door the rest of the way. True to Mao’s word, the two upperclassmen were in the room, talking quietly as the had been that morning.

Keito was the first to notice the four and turned to them a slightly confused look (why would they be here, of all people?), while Mao went straight to the desk that had been his before. It was oddly clean, he noted, surely there had at least been a pen or an extra form on his desk the last time he’d seen it. Despite staying organized, it was rare that the second-year managed to keep the desktop completely clean.

Figuring whoever hijacked the school must have done some cleaning of their own (if this even was the same school, Mao reminded himself), he pulled open one of the top drawers of the desk. It was filled with papers, neatly stacked, although Mao wasn’t quite sure he recognized them. They were a pale pink color, just slightly off-white, with the words ‘EXECUTION FORM’ stamped across the top with an unsettlingly bright ink. The letters were a bit out of line, as if they’d been stamped on individually, and in a hurry at that.

Slightly anxious about the word ‘execution’ glaring at him from the paper, he began to rifle through the papers. It seemed these forms were true to their title-each one seemed to detail the request of someone being killed, for all different reasons. There were motives that made sense (if senseless murder could make sense) like, ‘They killed someone else’, motives a little less sensible like ‘the were bullying my younger sister/brother/cousin at school’, but there were motives that made absolutely no sense at all, like ‘they were walking too slow on the sidewalk’. Each one had a stamp at the bottom reading ‘approved’, and an illegible signature underneath. Lifting the stack of papers out of the drawer, and not bothering to touch the others, Mao headed towards where his upperclassmen were now talking to the rest of Trickstar.

“Sorry, excuse me, but do any of these papers look familiar?” Carefully, he set the stack down on the nearest desk, not wanting the papers to fall off and go everywhere. The group came a little closer, staring down at the top paper for a moment before Mao got his response.

“We found one earlier, but nowhere near this many.” Eichi ran his hand over the top paper, as if he was checking to see if it was real, before picking the paper up. His pale eyes scanned it quickly, before he reached for the next paper in the stack, rinse and repeat. Makoto leaned over the stack, taking off his glasses and putting them back on as if he wasn’t sure he was seeing things correctly.

In the next hour, the six people managed to reach one conclusion. Sometime in the past year, there had been a large number of people that were at least requested to be killed via these ‘execution forms’, and everyone else needed to be made aware of that fact as soon as possible. Whether it had to do with the video they’d seen earlier or not was not something that could be determined with the information they had-sure, the papers were here, in their school, but who was to say that this was actually their school? It was beginning to seem more and more like that was not the case. 

They agreed to split up and try to find others, to tell them about the papers. The first people Trickstar managed to find were the only people crazy enough to be outside when it was as hot outside as it was- the twins and Shinobu. It seemed they were still discussing the video, although no one sounded too serious. Still, did they not realized it was nearly five o’clock? Had they really spent almost nine hours talking about maybe 2 minutes of video footage?

“Sorry to interrupt, but do you have any idea what these are?” Subaru and Makoto rushed forwards, and Mao cringed internally at his enthusiasm. A paper reading ‘execution form’ in bright red letters isn’t something you just bounce up to someone and ask them about, no matter what the circumstance is. Especially not in one like this. The three, in return, looked almost horrified, before one spoke up.

“Does that mean that video was real?” Yuuta asked, gesturing to the paper with a look of confusion. Subaru scratched the back of his neck, still holding out the damn paper like it was a pet-sitting flyer while laughing nervously.

“Eheh, you see, we were wondering the same thing!” At that, Hokuto marched up and harshly took the paper from Subaru, nearly ripping it in the process.

“Sorry for this idiot here,” he shot a glance in the boy’s direction, “but we found these fliers when we went to the Student Council Room and were wondering if you had seen anything like this before?”

It turned out, no they had not. Neither had Chiaki, or the rest of Ryuseitai, or Shu, who had looked rather irritated at being asked such a question. By 5:45, the group was a bit fed up, nearly snapping at each other when no one seemed to know what was going on.

“Maybe we should call it a day?” Makoto suggested, a slightly worn paper in his hand. The rest of the group responded with some semblance of agreement, and so Trickstar headed back to the cafeteria for dinner.

When they got there, Knights was also in the room (except Mika replaced Ritsu, who was probably sleeping). Makoto stiffened noticeably when he saw Izumi, shifting a little bit. It wasn’t as if anyone could blame the blonde-not all of his past experiences with Izumi had been...well, they weren’t good. Luckily, they grey-haired boy seemed to control himself somewhat-at least he didn’t try to sit with Trickstar on the other side of the room.

 

“Tsukasa-chan, how do you know about Leo?” Arashi asked, her face confused. “You’ve never actually met him, right?” Tsukasa returned the look for a moment before he smiled.

“Oh,, there was a day you weren’t at practice, so Ritsu and Izumi took the opportunity to tell me about this ‘King’ of yours.” He sighed a little bit, glaring at the window with a look of slight frustration. “Wherever he happens to be, he sure is luck they he escaped this mess.” Arashi reached across the table to pat the top of Tsukasa’s head as he sulked, although the redhead shoved her hand off. 

‘He tries to be so self-dependent,’ Arashi thought, turning to Mika, who was on her right. ‘That doesn’t seem like something that will end well in a place like this.’

“Naru-chan, why’d Leo leave the school?” Mika asked. “Seems like he was talented, doesn’t really make sense that he’d leave.” Arashi stiffened for a moment. She already knew that Mika was none too fond of Eichi after what he’d done to Valkyrie, and she didn’t want to push that. She didn’t think Mika would ever hurt someone, but who knew what Shu had taught him, especially if the circumstances were as they are now.

‘Arashi, you’re being ridiculous. Shu’s strange, and a bit sharp, but he’s not a murderer.’ She took a small breath before answering.

“Leo and Eichi had some kind of...battle, I guess. No one really seems to know the details very well, but the point is that Leo lost and...fled, I guess. We don’t know what Eichi did, but it must have been bad to make him leave like that.” Mika gritted his teeth, processing the information before looking down at the ground.

“So it’s not just Valkyrie tha’ Eichi messed with?” Arashi let herself laugh. 

“Of course not, Mika-chan. He’s probably tampered with almost every unit at the school by this point.” Mika seemed a bit surprised by that. Then again, with Valkyrie on hiatus, he didn’t know as much about the school’s idol course as he probably should have. Well, with all this free time on his hands, it wouldn’t hurt to learn more, right?

 

It was past the start of nighttime, but Mika was still in Arashi’s room. He was trying to learn everything he could about the school from Arashi. She insisted that she wasn’t the best person to consult about this, but Mika said that he was more comfortable talking to her. A sudden buzz stopped Arashi mid-sentence, pausing to pull something from her pocket-the ID. Mika had felt the vibration against his leg too, and when he pulled the device out, it was glowing.

“There’s a new rule..” Mika noted, staring at the notification on his screen. He looked up to see Arashi, eyes wide and lips slightly parted in terror.

“Mika-chan...get up, get up!” The cheeriness her voice held was gone, replaced with fear and regret.

“Naru-chan?” Mika glanced back down at the ID, swiping the notification. Arashi was already by the door, ID in hand and eyes ablaze. The screen loaded, and Mika instantly understood Arashi’s terror.

‘8) When two or more people discover a body, an alarm will alert the rest of the school.’ Mika stood up, catching the closing door before it could hit him, slipping out, and taking after Arashi.

“Naru-chan, wait! Does this mean-” Arashi whipped around, a thin finger held to her lips.

“Mika-chan, it’s nighttime, but that doesn’t mean people can’t leave their rooms. We have to hurry.” Mika knew what she was thinking, and his brain was already going down the ‘what if we’re too late?’ path, but he did his best to force the thoughts out. He raced after Arashi, who was taller, not to mention faster than Mika by a lot.

“Naru-chan...wait….up,” Mika panted, following Arashi up the stairs. “Where...ya...going.” Arashi didn’t respond, she was too lost in her head, but she slowed down, enough for Mika to catch up. Wordlessly, she pointed to the Student Council’s room.

“Why here?”

“I...my gut told me, that’s all.” Mika nodded still winded as Arashi approached the room. The hallway was silent, too silent, and anxiety rising in Mika’s throat did nothing to calm the pounding blood in his ears. He could barely hear their footsteps against the floor through the terror as Arashi pushed open the door.

The second the door was open, Mika knew something was wrong. There was just something wrong with the air in the room-it felt heavy and warm, as if it was made out of something besides oxygen and nitrogen. Even with just the moon’s light, which seemed to be shining far too brightly, it was easy to see why everything felt wrong.

There was something slumped up against one of the desks in the room.

Not something, no. It was someone.

Blood pooled under them, shining a dull red in the limited light. Despite the dark, Mika could pinpoint marks on their face as well-bleeding slightly, although nothing that would cause the scene before him, or kill someone for that matter. The body already was starting to look pale, and Mika couldn’t bring himself to look up at the person’s face anymore. Not with the look of complete terror that replaced a normally bright face. It wasn’t someone he knew well, but it was someone he knew of enough to wonder why they’d been killed.

It was Subaru Akehoshi, dead.

SURVIVORS: Hokuto, Mao, Makoto, Rei, Koga, Kaoru, Adonis, Mika, Shu, Hinata, Yuuta, Izumi, Arashi, Ritsu, Tsukasa, Chiaki, Kanata, Midori, Tetora, Shinobu, Keito, Kuro, Souma, Nazuna, Tomoya, Mitsuru, Hajime, Eichi, Yuzuru, Wataru, and Tori.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> one down and like...29 to go? 28 to go? i don't math well haha  
> here i am killing characters i don't have strong emotional bonds too because i am weak (don't worry i get to hurt myself later)
> 
> help me hate my decisions even more via twitter- @squirrellissa
> 
> also why do i have two sets of notes this is really bugging me


	5. 1-3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It’s then that Ritsu finally reads the words stamped across the paper: ‘Execution Form’, in bright red capital letters. Maybe he should have actually bothered to look.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i didn't mean for this to take so long i swEAR but then i was tiering for the nozomi event and apparently i had a summer class that my parents just didn't tell me about...  
> it's like more investigation 0.5 because i'm a new to this and i am weak

A loud buzzing, like an alarm, rang through the building. There was really no way to escape it, much to Ritsu’s frustration. Being woken up during the day is one thing-sure, it’s annoying as hell, but at least most people do things during the day. Being woken up in the middle of the night by some weird alarm thing? That’s a whole new level of annoying. Blinking at the ceiling, the red-eyed boy was ready to fall back asleep when a voice followed the buzzer.

“A body had been found. Your eight hour investigation period begins now.” The monotone voice jolted the normally lethargic boy to his feet in only a couple seconds, staring up at the speaker on his ceiling in shock. 

“Someone’s dead already..” He muttered to himself, curious and slightly apprehensive as to who it could be. Maybe, if he was lucky, he’d never have to see that gross brother of his again...was that too cruel? It didn't matter to Ritsu either way. 

Shuffling out into the hallway, people were beginning to crowd with a wide range of expressions. Some were visibly upset, others looked shocked, some even a bit angry. A loud door slam to his left made Ritsu jump, turning to find the source, but that noise must have been someone coming in, and not out. That was...weird. 

Moments later, there was a hand on his shoulder, Izumi’s voice grumbling something about how he better not be asleep, and he was pushed down the hall by the grumpy third year. Looking to his left, Tsukasa was there, but Arashi was nowhere to be seen. His heart jumped for a moment-was that why Izumi was so forceful? Actually, probably not. Arashi was probably still in her room-she did seem like someone who'd want their beauty sleep-and would come out in a little bit. 

“Secchan, where are you going?” The three Knights stood in the courtyard, looking around for a sign of where the body could be. If there was a body to be found, that was. 

“Up there...is there a light on?” Voice still a bit hazy, Tsukasa’s hand pointed to the top floor of the main school building, a room facing out towards the rest of the school and the moon above it. Wordlessly, the group set towards the light, other people beginning to do the same. Shuffling across the courtyard in exhaustion, Ritsu stopped short when his foot hit something on the ground. 

“Kuma-kun, what are you-” Ritsu bent over to see what he'd hit. It was two rather small objects, one translucent and the other opaque and heavier. Probably a rock or something, maybe it fell off of the school? Holding his hand out, Ritsu pointed up towards the lit room, which currently was almost directly above them. It went without saying that these objects could be evidence. 

After trudging up more flights of stairs than necessary to get to the top floor, the Knights noticed something surprising-Arashi was already there. Leaning against the wall, the blonde ran a hand through her hair, turning as she heard the footsteps of her group members. 

“Is someone actually-” Tsukasa began, although Arashi silence him with a grim nod. 

“In the Student Council Room. Go ahead, you're some of the first ones here.” Nodding to Arashi’s sobering words, the three started towards the room. There was a voice from inside-maybe another group had gotten here before them? It wouldn't be unreasonable if people had ran off on their own as well, considering how abrupt the news had been. 

Stepping into the room, Ritsu’s eyes didn't go to the dead body on the floor-instead, they went to the center of the room, where was anxious looking Mika was talking to Undead. How ironic that of all people, the self-proclaimed ‘creatures of the night’ or something like that, we're the first ones to show up to the scene. Thankfully, Mika seemed to be distracting them enough that he wouldn’t have to deal with his brother for a few minutes. 

Next, his eyes travelled to the body on the floor-Subaru. It was a bit strange to see him, of all people, dead. His entire being seemed to radiate life and energy, from that seemingly permanent smile to his fiery, orange hair. Thankful that no one had noticed him or the other two knights, Ritsu quietly approached body, a surreal tingle in the back of his mind.

Leaning over Subaru’s form, he noticed the expression on his face-it was almost panicked, definitely surprised. He probably saw who killed him, then. If only someone could go and ask him, this whole mess would be easier. They boy’s skin seemed slightly discolored, pale, but it wasn’t quite exactly cold yet. Ritus was about to move away when he saw something clenched tightly in Subaru’s hand-it was pink, and looked sort of like a crumpled paper, although the part visible was rather small.

He grabbed the hand, prying it open with his own. It wasn’t easy-the body was already beginning to stiffen and Ritsu wasn’t exactly the strongest person around, but he managed to tug the paper free without breaking it too badly. The top corner tore off, stuck forever in Subaru’s grip, but Ritsu had enough of the paper for it to probably count as ‘evidence’, right? This was all so weird, seeing a dead body.

In the hallway, Tsukasa and Izumi were talking to a still shaken Arashi, trying to get details out of her. The blonde seemed to know that she was probably suspicious-she was the first one to stumble upon the body, after all, and it was after night time began as well. Quickly, she explained the story about Mika being in her room, and the two being awake enough to hear their ID’s buzz when the new rule was announced.

“New rule?” Tsukasa stiffened, his hand pulling the ID from his pocket. There was a small light blinking on the side, like a message notification. Turning the ID on, he fumbled with the device for a moment before finding what was probably the rules page, based on his expression.

“But, even if you saw this update, how did you know where to go?” Arashi cringed-this was the part where she’d have to hope that her classmates could trust her enough to tell the truth. Surely, she wasn’t known for lying, right?

“I guess you could say I blanked out. I kind of dragged Mika-chan here though, so you could go ask him if you’d like.” The blonde shrugged, turning at the sound of voices in the stairwell. It seemed like a large amount of people-it seemed most everyone else had made it to the location. With a small smile, she noticed that Tori happened to be sitting, maybe even sleeping, on Yuzuru’s shoulders, the latter seeming none too happy about the arrangement.  
She flinched a little when the next three walked by-it was the remaining members of Trickstar, all of whom looked more than just a little bit concerned. The three Knights watched them walk by almost pityingly, as if silently apologizing for what they were about to see. They were quickly lost as everyone else arrived on the top floor, Arashi wordlessly pointing them in the correct direction.

Moments later, someone yelled something from the Student Council Room-Arashi cringed at the thought that it was probably someone from Trickstar, seeing their friend dead on the floor. That wasn’t something she was sure she could wish on anyone.

In the Student Council Room, Ritsu turned around when he heard an all too familiar voice say something-Mao. He stood up a little straighter, irritated that he hadn’t been able to keep his Maa-kun from seeing something so horrible. Approaching Trickstar, he couldn’t think of anything to say. What do you say to someone who’s just seen their friends dead body, murdered for the point of a stupid game. However, before he can even try to form a sentence, someone taps Ritsu’s shoulder. He looks back, and it’s Mika, looking every bit as apologetic as he feels.

“S-sorry...did ya check the ID’s yet? They changed.” Ritsu pulls out his ID, looking back at Mika with a glare that is probably too harsh, as the dark-haired boy flinched and turned around, walking away. There’s a blue light flashing on the side of the device, and Ritsu taps the screen idly until he finds the source of the message- it’s a new rule. About...alarms and dead bodies. Well,he’d heard the alarm, so that meant the Subaru really, truly, was dead.

Looking back up, Ritsu froze a moment before putting an arm around Mao. He wasn’t as close to the other two, who were both standing pin-straight, like Mao himself, but he trusted that the redhead wouldn’t mind Ritsu’s presence. The black-haired boy is about to say something when he feels the object in his hand get tugged on, harshly.

“Where did you get that!” Hokuto points to the paper, a lock of shock on his face. Ritsu shrugs-the paper didn’t really seem like it was that big of a deal, but he didn’t get a chance to look at it very well.

“This? It was in Subaru’s hand.” He gestures to the body on the floor with the paper, failing to muffle a yawn. Next to him, Mao’s emerald eyes grow wide, and he tugs the paper out of Ritsu’s hand with a surprising strength. It’s then that Ritsu finally reads the words stamped across the paper: ‘Execution Form’, in bright red capital letters. Maybe he should have actually bothered to look.

“Ritchan, have you moved any of the desks since you got here? Has anyone?” Mao’s voice is urgent, almost pleading. He seems relieved when Ritsu shakes his head no, and Mao grab’s Ritsu’s wrist, pulling him of towards one of the desks. When they get there, Mao throws open one of the drawers, only to find it empty. His face drains of all its color completely, and his legs give out for a moment, head almost hitting the desktop.

A few moments later, he sighs, pulling himself together. Ritsu deserves an explanation. Trying to go quickly without missing any important details, he quickly summarizes the events of the past day-finding the ‘execution forms’, and trying (and failing) to find someone, anyone, who knew anything about the papers. 

“No one knew? Not even Ecchan?” Mao shakes his head no, closing the wooden door gently.

 

“They’re gone?” The rest of Trickstar and Ritsu have stepped into the hallway, which is now mostly empty. Mao nods as Hokuto speaks, sighing and sagging his shoulders in a manner that really doesn’t seem to suit him.

“Do you think...they could be in his room? He was pretty interested in them, after all.” They’re making a conscious effort to not say Subaru’s name, Ritsu realizes, almost as if they’re trying to forget the problem, or maybe just forget the boy. No, that’s too cruel for any of the three. Hokuto and Makoto nod at Mao’s words, the pink form still clenched tightly in his hand.

“We won’t be able to get in, though…” Makoto mumbles, cleaning his glasses absentmindedly, and the other three nod in agreement. There is a chance that the door has been unlocked for investigative purposes, though, right? Ritsu isn’t sure if anyone else is thinking along that path, because when he turns to head for the stairway, no one follows him.

“Ritchan...what are you doing?’ Mao looks tired. Painfully so. He looked just as tired as Ritsu feels, as he always feels.

“We should check his room anyways.”

True to his thoughts, the door to Subaru’s room is not only open, it’s ajar, when the group of four gets there. After sharing a brief glance with each other, the group opens the door, and three of the four suddenly find themselves with a strange sense of deja vu. Standing on the other side of the door is Eichi, although this time, he’s joined by the rest of fine, and not Keito. 

The four walk into the room quietly. It feels like they’re in a graveyard, standing in the room of someone who was now dead. It doesn’t take long for someone to notice them, because moments later, Eichi is right in front of them. He looks uncharacteristically...well, emotional, which Ritsu finds strange-wasn’t Trickstar kind of fine’s enemy? Wouldn’t it be good for fine if Trickstar’s leader was gone. As morbid as the thought was, Ritsu had interacted with Eichi enough to know that he could be quit the morbid person.

“Isara, what is this?” Mao grabs the paper in Eichi’s hands, another execution form. There’s a large stack on the desk towards the back of Subaru’s room, where the other three members of fine are going through the papers, one by one. Mao’s eyes scan the sheet of paper, but when he reaches the end, his head jolts up sharply. 

“I-I don’t know. I didn’t do this, I swear!” He sounds panicked, his hands holding the paper so tight that it might rip down the middle if he pulls a little bit harder. Stepping up to look over Mao’s shoulder, Ritsu’s eyes trace the paper in his friend’s hands. The execution form is everything he’d been expecting-details on who the person was, why they were to be executed, and the like. However, it’s the last line at the bottom of the paper that served for more than enough confusion. Half of it is the lettering used on the rest of the paper, the other half an eerily familiar signature, drawn out in blood red.

‘Authorized by: Mao Isara’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oops  
> mao you might wanna get that checked out  
> ok next chapter will be more investgation-y i swear
> 
>  
> 
> come make me hate my decisions even more on twitter @squirrellissa


	6. 1-4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mao closes his eyes against the oppressing darkness, trying to go over the few clues he managed to find before he fell asleep. Surely, with everyone else’s help, he’ll figure out who killed Subaru.
> 
> He simply won’t forgive himself if he doesn’t.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ok i think it's safe to adda ritsumao tag now  
> repost bc i fucked something up the first time around

Ritsu wearily blinks back his surprise at the words, staring down at the brightly colored sheet of paper. There’s no way his Maakun would do something like execute people, right? No, there's some sort of mistake. Maybe the culprit signed these to frame Mao?

“Maakun…” Ritsu breathes, taking the paper gently from the redhead’s hands. His eyes fall on the signature at the bottom-there’s no doubt that it’s Mao’s handwriting, Ritsu’s seen the signature enough to know it’s genuine. Even so, he really didn’t believe that Mao would just sign away someone’s life like that. The rest of fine walks over at that moment, bringing with them another large stack of papers. They’re placed on a small table that’s in the room, carefully, and Mao takes a slight step forward to look at them better.

“Did I sign all of these, too?” He asks, picking up the paper on the top. No one says anything, but that’s enough of an answer for Mao. The silence in the room is heavy and and oppressive as Mao’s eyes search the room, desperately looking for an exit. Setting the paper down and stepping back, he turns for the door.

“I’m going to go get a drink. I need to clear my head.” Ritsu can’t blame him for feeling that way, any maybe, he shouldn’t have followed Mao into the hallway. He keeps quiet, trying to decide if this is a good idea or not - he doesn’t want to believe that Mao is involved in the murder, but a large stack of papers with him clearly being willing to sign away someone’s life isn’t helping the case. In the end, he decides to catch up the redhead. After all, they’ve been together their whole lives-what should change now?

“Maakun….” Ritsu leans his head on Mao’s shoulder suddenly, and the boy jumps for a moment before realizing it’s just Ritsu. He looks mildly relieved, but Ritsu knows from the expression on his face that he’s just faking a smile. How admirable, to be able to smile for others, even in his situation, Ritsu thinks. His suspicions are only confirmed when Mao’s expression changed drastically. 

“They're going to think it’s me! I didn't sign any of those damn papers, but now I’m probably going to be a suspect. Ritchan, you don't think I did it, right?!” Mao tilts his head so he can look down at Ritsu, his eyes pleading and desperate. Ritsu shakes his head no, still not moving it from its place on Mao’s shoulder and brushing the tip of his nose against Mao’s as he moves. 

“There's no way you did it, Maakun. I know you'd never hurt someone.” Ritsu manages a small smile, reaching to intertwine his fingers with Mao’s, whose hand rests by his side. Maakun really is too kind for this kind of game, he thinks, trying to think of ways to protect the red haired boy without scaring him off. 

“Ritchan, do you know if there are knives in the kitchen?” He hasn't been paying attention, but Ritsu realizes that they're en route to the cafeteria. Ritsu shrugs - he can cook, to some degree, but he hasn't been in the kitchen yet. 

“Probably. What's wrong?” He yawns as Mao opens the door to the kitchen. It squeaks slightly as it moves-maybe it needs to be oiled?

“The cuts on Subaru...they probably could have been made by a kitchen knife.” Just as the words leave Mao’s mouth, there's another loud buzzing. Despite himself, Ritsu jumps-is someone else dead? That would be ridiculous-whoever the killer was has clearly made their point known. 

“Victim file number one has been added to the Student ID under ‘evidence’.” It's Mademoiselle’s voice, no surprise there, and Ritsu sees Mao take out his ID from his jacket pocket, the telltale light blinking on the side. 

“Look at this…”. On the screen there’s a small human figure, and a text box of sorts next to it with a little sliding bar. The figure is dashed with bright red lines-probably where the wounds on Subaru’s body are. Ritsu’s eyes trace the human figure-it lines up with what he can remember about Subaru’s body, except for one thing. 

“Ritchan, did you see anything on Subaru’s left hand? I couldn't get that close, but it looked like he was mostly bleeding from his arms and legs, right?” Mao’s thumb runs over the injuries marked on the silhouette as he speaks. He then moves his hand to the textbook next to the figure, reading it slowly of how infrequent his scrolls are anything to go by. The only new information is that the time of death was approximately 11:20 pm, and the wounds on his hand weren't made by the weapon that killed him. 

“That means he hurt his hand before...right?” Mao is about to respond when the kitchen door slams open suddenly, announcing the presence of another person-Koga. He growls something under his breath about ‘that bastard and his tomato juice,’ which leaves no question as to why Koga looks so irritated. After nearly ripping the door off of a fridge in his attempts to open it, Koga finds whatever he was looking for, finally turning and noticing Ritsu and Mao, staring at him with blank looks. 

“Did you find something?” Mao turns from his spot at the counter to face Koga a little more, brushing back a stray hair with his left hand. 

Koga shrugs in response. “Nah. Well, there's some kinda blade by the back window, which is broken..nothin’ else though.” Mao nods, and Ritsu leans his head on his shoulder again. He’s probably tired-Mao sure is, so he lets it slide, but he really hopes that Ritsu won't pass out on him here. He has to prove that even though his name was on the crime scene, Mao was not involved with his friend’s murder. 

“Did ya take that knife?” Koga gestures absentmindedly to the knife holder that's on the counter a couple feet away from the other two second years, and Mao remembers why him and Ritsu actually came here in the first place. Sure enough, one of the kitchen knives is missing-not the biggest one, but not the smallest one either. 

“No, but is it that blade you found by Subaru?” Mao slides his ID into his pocket, cursing himself internally. It's not a huge hassle, but he really doesn't want to drag Ritsu all the way back to the Student Council room. “I’m going back up. I’d like to see that blade you mentioned.” 

Wordlessly, Ritsu latches a leg around Mao’s torso, and the other boy sighs, lifting his friend up onto his back and balancing him there. It's a bit of a struggle to open the door-he almost asks Koga, who’s back to going through the fridge, for help, but Mao manages to shoulder it open without disturbing Ritsu too badly. In the cafeteria, the rest of Undead is talking, probably about the murder. Mao waves as best as he can with Ritsu on his back, pointing to the sleeping boy as an excuse to avoid any questions. By now, everyone probably knows about the execution forms.

Halfway up the stairs to the Student Council Room, Mao sets Ritsu down on a landing with a dull thud, shaking the lethargic boy awake. His legs are shaking, he’s too tired to carry Ritsu up all of these stairs. It’s probably a good bit past 1 am, maybe later, and he hasn’t slept since before the previous morning.

“Look, if you need to sleep, go back to your room. I’m too tired for this.” The words feel bitter and unfamiliar-it’s not often that he refuses Ritsu, but Mao feels like he hasn’t slept in years and he might fall down these stairs if he’s carrying Ritsu too. Silently, Ritsu stands up, his arms crossed and a look of slight frustration on his pale face. He turns to follow Mao up the rest of the stairs nonetheless, although that doesn’t keep him from letting out an obnoxiously loud yawn.  
There are still people in the room with Subaru, and Mao feels his head spin with anxiety. He pauses, one foot in the doorway,before backing up and into the wall on the other side of the hallway. His head hits a bulletin board with a soft noise, and Ritsu is in front of him in a flash.

“You’re not going in?” Mao shakes his head no.

“Not yet. I need fresh air, or something.” Mao’s frustrated with himself for avoiding the situation more than he should be. Yes, it’s hard as hell seeing the dead body of someone he was close to, but if this ‘game’ is for real than he knows he needs to tough it out. “Just five more minutes,” he says, telling himself more than Ritsu, and he moves for the end of the hallway.

Laying at the foot of the door is something much more interesting than the outside, however. It’s a bit of an oddly shaped object-almost like a slightly misshapen cylinder, rounded at one end. From one side to the end there’s a slit, like something could slide into place. Mao picks up the object, turning away from the door to see if there’s anything else behind him. There is, on the floor. A few small dark spots, and a larger one that look a lot like dried blood.

“Ritchan, is this blood?” Mao nudges one of the smaller spots, closest to him, with the toe of his shoe. It doesn’t move or smear, so it’s dried, but on closer inspection the stains are a dark red color. After waiting a few moments for an answer, Mao turns, only to see Ritsu sitting against the wall next to the door, where they’d been standing a few moments ago.

Initially, the red-haired boy panics. He’s tired, he’s not thinking, and the blood automatically triggers some bizarre response in his head that tells him Ritsu’s dead, despite the fact that he knows better. Stepping over to Ritsu, Mao places his hand on the boy’s neck gently-just as there should be, Ritsu’s slow pulse is moving under Mao’s fingertips. His eyes are closed, his face relaxed, and Mao lets out a little laugh at how even now, Ritsu’s fallen asleep.

He’s about to go find someone, and ask them if they know anything about the weird object he found, when he catches sight of the time. There’s a large analog clock on the wall at the end of the hallway, above a wide window that lets in some of the moon’s light from outside. Much to his disappointment, it’s already 3 am, which means two things. One, he’s hasn’t slept in almost twenty hours. Two, there’s only about 4 hours left until the trial. He still hasn’t worked up the courage to go and see Subaru’s body, either.

Ritsu mutters something nonsensical in his sleep, pulling Mao from his thoughts. His gaze goes from the faint light coming from the Student Council Room, to the flat plane of Ritsu’s shoulder. It’s big enough for his head, Mao knows, and surely a couple hours of sleep won’t hurt him. He’s so anxious that he probably won’t sleep for long anyways-he’ll just close his eyes and rest his head on Ritsu’s shoulder for an hour, and then he’ll wake up and finish investigating. Much to Mao’s frustration, he still can’t think of anyone who could be the culprit, and he knows there’s going to be suspicion on him.

“I’ll be able to think better if I just sleep a little,” he tells himself, sitting next to Ritsu and leaning on the other’s shoulder. Just for safekeeping, he tucks the strange object into his jacket pocket-he’d changed back into his uniform when he’d heard the announcement, as most people seemed to have done, and then closed his eyes.

Unfortunately, Mao was a lot more tired than he expected.

A blaring alarm rang throughout the hallways, and Mao jumped, waking from whatever fuzzy dream he’d been having. Automatically, he knew something was wrong when he could see the sun-that meant he’d slept way longer than he’d meant.

“All remaining students, please report to the fountain for the commencement of our first Class Trial.” Mademoiselle’s mechanical voice echoes through the hallways, and Mao’s blood goes cold. One look at the clock above a nearby window confirms his fear-he fell asleep for real, now it’s 8:30 and he hardly knows anything about the case. Feeling anxiety spiking back up in his mind, the red-haired boy stands, careful not to drop the plastic in his jacket, before pulling a mostly asleep Ritsu to his feet.

“Ritchan, we’ve gotta go! We fell asleep, and the trial is starting!” Mao takes off down the hall, dragging Ritsu behind him. He can hear Ritsu softly telling him to slow down, that he’s going to fall, but Mao blocks the words out and continues running. They’re the last ones in the building, as evidenced by the utter silence, and as the two hurry past the Student Council Room, Mao takes a quick glance in. Subaru’s body is still sitting there, stiff as a rock, and it sends a chill down Mao’s spine, but there’s not time to do anything but look in for a moment before taking off again.

“I’ll come see you after the trial,” he mutters, so quietly that Ritsu doesn’t hear-or, he pretends not to hear even if he does.

Sure enough, everyone is already gathered outside by the fountain. Mao drops Ritsu’s arm, running over the where Hokuto and Makoto are standing. There’s bags under their eyes, and Mao feels a pang of guilt when he thinks about how he was weak enough to let himself drift off, when everyone else was working through their exhaustion to get to the bottom of the case.

“Any ideas?” Mao asks under his breath, looking between the two sets of tired eyes staring at him. They both shake their head no, and Mao hangs his head a little more. However, he’s saved from further guilt when Mademoiselle appears, poised as ever, standing on the edge of the fountain. The urge to push her into the water is strong-surely, it would short out her circuits and put some kind of pause on this sick game. However, Mao knows somewhere in his gut that that probably won’t end well-if whoever’s behind this mess doesn’t kill him, then Shu might, for messing up his precious doll. Surely, the boy has to have some sort of attachment to the doll, even now.

“Thank you all for doing as I said. It makes me truly pleased to see that you all have become so obedient.” Mademoiselle gives a small curtsy, covering her mouth with a delicate hand as a small giggle slips through her robotic lips.

“As eight hours have passed since Akehoshi-kun’s body was discovered, it is time to begin the first of our class trials. Surely, you all have been able to deduce a culprit, no?” A silence sweeps through the clearing, accentuated by the occasional chirp of a nearby bird or the rustle of leaves in the soft breeze. Mademoiselle hardly makes a sound herself as she jumps from the side of the fountain to the ground. There’s a whirring sound from deep within the ground, and the entire fountain suddenly moves to the side, as if on a plate. Underneath, there is a large metal circle, a bit larger in circumference than the fountain itself.

“Go on,” Mademoiselle gestures to the large circle. “We do not have the whole day.” The crowd begins to move onto the circle, and even though it’s bigger than the fountain, it’s still a bit of a tight fit to get everyone there. Once everyone is on, Mademoiselle seemingly disappears again. Large metal railings, taller than everyone standing on the platform, rise up from around the circle, which begins to vibrate lightly. Someone near Mao loses their balance, grabbing his shoulder for support, but then quickly flinches away.

‘They suspect me.’ Mao knows it, but he won’t say anything. After a sudden jolt, the platform begins to move downwards. It’s a fairly smooth motion, with a limited amount of bumps, but soon the light of the morning sky has faded to a pinprick against the dark tunnel. Then, nothing. Just darkness.

Mao closes his eyes against the oppressing darkness, trying to go over the few clues he managed to find before he fell asleep. Surely, with everyone else’s help, he’ll figure out who killed Subaru.

He simply won’t forgive himself if he doesn’t.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i hope the culprit isn't too obvious or a stretch...this is stressful, lol
> 
>  
> 
> hmu on twitter @squirrellissa


	7. 1-5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Isara-kun, you have to admit, don’t you think you’re rather suspicious?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> trial go!! this is actually the hardest thing i've ever written, lol. i'm trying not to make it too dialogue heave, but lemme know if it is and i'll try to change it for later!  
> also i'm sorry for not updating earlier just...this is difficult and i am a lazy potato..

When Mao can see again, he feels like he’s standing in a dungeon.

As far as he can see, stone walls lead upwards, fading into the darkness. There’s no sign of the sky outside, and he wonders just how far underground they’ve come. The room itself is cool, much more than the outside air is. The room is well lit, although the light comes from several blazing torches placed on the wall.

In the center of the room is a large circle, divided into small segments by metal railings. There’s a black platform, almost like a step, at the base of each segment. Even though there’s far too many places to count, Mao has a feeling that there’s one for each person present. One of the spots has a tall object in it, and seems to maybe have a picture of some sort at the top, although it faces away from the crowd. Looking over the whole scene is an elegant throne, with silver and black materials that seem to match the room fairly well. Even further beyond that, there’s a large metal object that looks suspiciously like a vault door.

“Hurry up, what’re you waiting for! Take your places, come on!” Mademoiselle’s voice resounds through the room, with the same impatient tone it held when she had snapped after the video the other day. Casting a suspicious glance at the doll, Mao takes a couple steps forward. As he gets closer to the circle, it’s pretty clear that each platform has a name carved into it. His spot is fairly easy to find-to his right is the spot with the weird, tall object in it. Makoto steps in to his left a few moments later.

Mao leans forward, turning his head to the side to look at the object next to him-just as he expected, it’s a picture. One of Subaru, to be exact. It’s black and white, but it’s the same familiar smile looking down at him, sending chills down Mao’s spine. He knows he’s not the only one looking at it, so he’s not surprised when he hears someone comment on it.

“What is that?” It’s Tsukasa, who happens to be standing directly across the circle. Everyone’s been assembled by unit, it looks like, so Knights is across from Trickstar, and Mao almost laughs despite himself when he sees he’s directly across from Ritsu. To Trickstar’s left is fine, to the right is Undead.

“You think Subaru should be excluded just because he is dead? How cruel.” Is it just Mao, or is Mademoiselle being a lot more...cruel...than she was previously? He figures it’s just the intensity of the situation.

“Before we begin, allow me to explain a few rules,” the doll begins speaking again. “During class trials, you will be given an amount of time to discern the culprit of the murder case at hand. Should the correct conclusion be reached, the culprit will face punishment. However, if you all fail to find the culprit, then the culprit will be permitted to leave the school’s perimeters, and everyone else will be punished. Am I clear?” She’s back to the usual, stricter way of speaking. Maybe this doll is just plain bipolar.

“Yes, you. Speak.” Mao looks over to see Hajime, from all people, with his hand raised slightly in the air.

“What...what’s this punishment you keep talking about?” The small boy’s voice is nearly inaudible, although Mademoiselle seems to pick it up fairly well. Unfortunately, she doesn’t give a specific answer-just a slightly cynical laugh that really can’t mean anything good, no matter how you try to think about it.

“So...anyone just wanna fess up?” After a few moments of silence, Mao turns to see Kaoru speaking. He’s managing his best attempt at a grin, but his arms are crossed almost defensively.

“Just...kidding..” He sighs, and his arms fall. For a moment Mao wonders if anyone would actually confess if prompted like that, or if they didn’t feel guilty enough to do so.

“We...we should figure out where he died first, since we have the time on file.” Mao speaks up when no one else bothers too, ignoring the eyes staring holes through his head as he does. He’s prepared for any accusations, he’ll do his best to fight them off, even with the limited evidence he has.

“Says you.” someone-Koga, scoffs. Mao wonders for a brief moment why he looks so upset, before remembering that him and Subaru shared some bond over their dogs or something. Right?

“What do you mean?” His nails dig into the palms of his hands, heart rate increasing despite himself.

“Isara-kun, you have to admit, don’t you think you’re rather suspicious?” The red-haired boy’s heart leaps to lodge in the back of his throat when he hears Eichi speak. Surely, whatever Eichi says, Keito will back him up. He’d like to think he can outsmart Eichi, but there’s no way he’ll outsmart Keito without solid evidence. 

‘Maybe if I get him to elaborate, he’ll bring something up? No, that’s too risky, I might just dig myself a deeper hole.’

“I’m sorry, but I think we should figure out the details of the murder before we try to accuse anyone.” He waits for a moment, preparing for more accusations, before Eichi makes a noise of confirmation instead.

“You have a point. What are you suggesting then?”

“Ritchan and I...well, at least I, found blood in the hallway. Did anyone else see it?”

“We did.” Chiaki speaks, gesturing the the rest of Ryuseitai as he does.

“We did?” Shinobu turns to look at his leader for a moment, but after Chiaki gives him a sharp glare, he shrinks a little. “I’m sorry, I just don’t remember.” His words are punctuated with a large yawn, making Mao’s exhaustion come back just at the sight.

“Did you find where the blood came from? We couldn’t.” Mao shakes his head.

“I can only assume it came from either Akehoshi or the killer, although it was probably his killer. It wasn’t a large amount of blood though, so I don’t think it came from a fatal wound.”

“Then, that means he died in the Student Council Room, right?” Makoto asks. The question feels like it’s directed at Mao, but the red-haired boy isn’t the one who answers it.

“Does that mean Kagehira-senpai and Narukami-senpai did it?” Tsukasa speaks up, looking fairly alarmed. He is standing next to Arashi, but the other Knight promptly turns to Tsukasa and gives him just about the most dumbfounded look ever.

“Naru-chan wouldn’t hurt anyone!” Mika yells, then cringes back, probably when he realizes that’s just what a culprit would say. “I jus’ meant, d’you really think she’d kill someone?” he mumbles to the floor.

“It wasn’t Kagehira or Narukami.” Shu speaks up from his place next to Arashi, his arm in front of Mika almost defensively. “I had...business with Kagehira to attend to, so I went to his room last night. He...wasn’t there, which means he was probably with Narukami.” Mao blinks in surprise, that’s the most he’s ever heard Shu say at once.

“But they could have done it together, right? Akehoshi-senpai did have a lot of wounds!” Tsukasa leans against the side of his railing closer to Ritsu visibly, looking at Arashi in shock.

“But that would mean we have two culprits.” Mao thinks aloud. The group grows silent for a moment. While he hadn’t considered the possibility of two culprits, it does seem fairly unlikely. It would be easy enough for one to betray the other, especially with the way Kaoru had called whoever it was out at the beginning of the trial. That would have been the perfect opportunity to do it. But then, would only one be executed? Would both get away? Too confusing, Mao decides. There has to be only one. He just has to figure out how to prove it.

He goes over the small amount of evidence in his head, trying to think of anything that could prove that there was only one killer. There’s one small detail that comes to mind, but he’s not sure how much of a help it would be.

“Koga, you said you found a blade of sorts in the classroom, right?”

“Yea, what about it?”

“How many were there?”

“One, how many else would there be?” Mao smiles at the words.

“Then there can’t have been two culprits. Assuming that the blade they found was the murder weapon, why would two culprits only bring one weapon?” Across the circle, Tsukasa looks down for a moment, before turning to Arashi.

“I...you’re probably right. I’m sorry, Narukami-senpai.” Mao smiles, glad that that’s taken care of, before he realizes that hey, he’s probably pushed the suspicion back onto himself. Great, just great. Taking a deep breath, he tries to change the subject before anyone else can call him out on it.

“So, we know that there was one culprit. Assuming that Itsuki was telling the truth, Mika and Arashi are both cleared of suspicion, since they were together at the time of the murder.” Well, at least now there’s 28 potential culprits, instead of 30. A small improvement, but an improvement indeed.

“We also need to think about the motive, though.” There’s not much else Mao has to say on the subject-he’s not really sure how to describe the motive in a way that makes sense to himself. Luckily for him, it seems like the rest of the student council isn’t too happy about having their spotlight stolen by Mao.

“Well, it was sort of honor-based, right?” Eichi asks the group. “I think the motive was trying to get us to face that we may or may not have done something horrible without our knowledge. So, someone who is more...justice oriented...may be more affected by this motive.” The blonde turns a little bit, so he’s facing Ryuseitai.

“What are you trying to say?” Chiaki retorts immediately, standing up straight and turning to meet the accusation head on. Eichi merely shrugs in response, a kind of ‘you figure it out’ gesture. Mao sees the logic behind his words, but he can’t see anyone in Ryuseitai being able to kill anyone. Even Kanata, who he’s pretty sure he’d heard mention dead bodies at least once before and is a complete mystery.

“None of my Ryusei would ever hurt anyone!”

“He’s right!”

“We’d never hurt anyone! Heroes don’t kill people!” Tetora and Shinobu jump to Chiaki’s aid immediately. It’s almost endearing, how much they support their leader despite the circumstances.

“As loud as he is, I think he’s right.” Even Midori speaks to defend Chiaki know, and the brunette turns to face his junior, his eyes filled with pride. Midori hangs his head so he doesn’t have to meet the gaze, which is nothing new, mumbling something under his breath.

“We’re being too broad. At this rate, we’ll just be accusing each other for hours on end.” From Mao’s left, Hokuto speaks, his arms crossed. “Does anyone else have details about the murder, like how the culprit left? The school is far from the dorm area, and the culprit couldn’t have had much time.”

“He’s right. Assuming our ID’s updated right when Subaru died, Mika-chan and I would have left my room at 11:20 exactly. We got there at 11:27, so it’s almost a miracle for the culprit that we didn’t bump into them on the way.” Arashi adds on.

“Maybe the culprit waited somewhere in the building?” Hokuto suggests. Arashi shrugs, opening her mouth to respond, before she’s interrupted.

“I think they came back.” Ritsu, who somehow isn’t asleep, cuts her off. “I heard their door slam. It was on my left side, but when I looked to my left, no one was there.”

“He’s actually right. I heard it too, but the only person there when I looked was Kuma-kun. Speaking of which, where’s your room?” Izumi, who’s on Ritsu’s other side, backs him up.

“Adonis is to my left, and Yuzuru on the right.” Ritsu responds with a yawn, his head drooping a little bit. That’s probably his contribution for the day, Mao thinks, knowing that the black-haired boy is fully capable of sleeping while standing up and has probably already done a little bit of that during the trial. He wonders how the situation itself isn’t enough to keep Ritsu awake, but then again, when is Ritsu not tired or sleeping?

Mao pulls out his ID, vaguely recalling that there’s a map on there. After a few moments of scrolling around, he finds the dorm building’s map.

“To Mao’s left is Adonis, Makoto, Subaru, Mitsuru, Shinobu, Midori, Tomoya, and Tetora. Apart from Subaru, one of them is probably the killer.” To his surprise, and relief, Izumi doesn’t immediately yell back something about how ‘his Yuu-kun would never kill someone!’ Now, the list of possible killers has been reduced to only seven people, none of which are Mao himself. Feeling a wave of relief wash over him, Mao mentally thanks Ritsu for remembering something so trivial, and blurting it out.

“So now, we should figure out how the hallway plays into this whole scene, right? It’s probably important.” Tsukasa’s probably trying to redeem himself for falsely accusing Arashi and Mika earlier, although he does bring up a good point.

“There wasn’t just blood. We found scratches on the walls, too.” Mao turns to see Souma talking. Akatsuki’s been oddly silent this entire time, although none of them are too suspicious as of the time being.

“Yea. There were a bunch of them on the walls at the end of the hallway.” Kuro affirms. Mao groans inwardly, wishing that he’d noticed something before. Then again, it was so dark that if the scratches were small enough, he wouldn’t have seen them at all.

“Does that mean there was a struggle?” Souma nods at Mao’s question.

“Most likely.” Another silence falls over the room, and Mao begins to let himself think. So far, they know that there was one culprit, and that Subaru died in the Student Council Room. The culprit, ironically, is someone probably opposed to the idea of hurting someone, and someone at least as strong as, or stronger than Subaru. Their room was probably on the left side of Ritsu’s, unless they had an accomplice who planned on letting them into their room. Putting the facts together, along with the order of people who arrived on the scene, the red-haired boy finds himself reaching a conclusion. It’s a bit of a surprising one, but so far, it adds up nonetheless.

Turning a little bit to the left, Mao meets eyes with the person he’s about to accuse. He knows it’s a loaded question, but it’s one that needs to be asked.

“Otogari...was it you?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> dun dun dun???  
> obviously, this isn't the //end// of the trial !  
> is mao right? is he wrong? stay tuned into murder boys (tm) to find out !
> 
>  
> 
> hmu on twitter @squirrellissa


	8. 1-6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He can’t believe what he’s just done. He’s just sent someone to their death.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hoooo boi this got longer than i ever intended for it to be sorry about that  
> but yea, here's the (not so) thrilling conclusion to the first trial!

Mao really hopes he’s not going to come to regret what he’s just said. For him, it’s just the most logical conclusion. He’d like to believe, he’d really, really, like to believe, that Adonis didn’t kill Subaru, but right now he’s having a hard time thinking of any other solutions. He stands in the silence, waiting for a response while his last words echo annoyingly in his mind, to the point where he can’t forget the tone of the last syllables.

“If I may ask, why are you accusing me?” Mao winces at the hurt in Adonis’s voice, but he’s glad the taller boy didn’t get angry with him. Then again, he sometimes wonders if Adonis is even capable of being angry. Mao figured he could give him that answer-it was only fair, after all.

“Well, there are a few people who I would suspect, but there’s one thing that made you stand out more than anyone else.” Mao began, before he was cut off by the angry voice he had been anticipating.

“You’re just gonna stand there n’ listen to him accuse you?!” Mao gritted his teeth at Koga’s tone, feeling a wave of frustration wash over him. It wasn’t his job to protect Adonis or anything, so why was he so worked up?

“Hear Isara-kun out, ok, Doggie? Maybe he’ll say something we can work off of.” Koga growls at Rei, jerking away from the hand placed on his shoulder, but he doesn’t have another outburst. Mao looks over the grey-haired boy for a moment, almost as if asking for his silence, before continuing.

“For the most part, I just want to ask - Ritchan had told me earlier that you four, Undead, had arrived to the scene just after Arashi and Mika, considerably before anyone else. As it makes all of you, particularly Adonis sort of suspicious, how did you get there so early?” The question sounds dumber out in the air than it did in his mind, and Mao curses mentally. Surely, he’s just brought up something pointless, right? Even so, Adonis’s answer sounds even weirder to Mao than his own question.

“Unit activities.”

Mao lets out a nervous laugh. That wasn’t really specific or helpful, to Adonis or to Mao himself. “U-unit activities? Can anyone clarify, is this actually an alibi?”

“Yeah. Even I was there.” Kaoru puts a hand halfway up, haphazardly, before letting it drop to his side. “It was less of ‘activities’ and more of just talking,” he explains. “It just happened at night because that was when we could actually drag Sakuma-san out of his room. You know how he is with the sun.” Mao looked over to the aforementioned boy, who gave a noncommittal shrug in response.

“So what you’re saying is that you got the location first because you were all awake?”

“There was also a light on in the Student Council room. It would have been hard to miss.” Satisfied with Rei’s answer, and Mao remembered seeing the same thing himself, he crossed Adonis off in the mental list of suspects. The remaining people came together as a jumbled mess in his head, although there were still a few questions lingering in the red-haired boy’s mind.

“Kanzaki, you said you found scratches at the end of the hallway?” Souma nods. “What did they look like? Did you find anything similar?”

“They were small, like someone had cut the wall with a knife, or something similar. Additionally, they were closer together by the Student Council Room than by the door to the roof, but that may not be worth noting.” Mao nods, trying to imagine the walls and the floors scratched in a way that would fit Souma’s description.

“It wasn’t in the hallway, but we also found a broken window in the Student Council Room. Eichi, was that the window you were supposed to get fixed?” Keito continued Souma’s explanation, turning to look at the blonde. Eichi bit his lip for a moment, like he was trying to remember something, before answering.

“The one on the right, was it? Yes, that was the one that was stuck. It wouldn’t open, so you’d have to break it if you wanted to open it.” The blonde pauses for a moment before adding, “You’re not suggesting someone jumped out of the window, right? They would be dead.”

“There were scuff marks on the windowsill, so it’s possibility.” How could someone possible jump that far down? Surely they’d be at least limping after taking a fall like that. Unless they had managed to get down and break their fall partway.

“Did anyone go into the classroom directly below the student council?” The question slips from Mao’s mouth, thoughtlessly.

“Mika-chan and I did, we were looking for Shu. Why do you ask?” Arashi speaks up, much to Mao’s relief.

“Was the window on the right scratched? Cracked? Anything wrong with it?” He know’s he’s speaking too fast, but Mao’s too excited to be on the path to what could be another clue. He’s not even sure how this will help them in the long run, but there’s surely got to be a way it will help them, right?

“Now that you mention it, I’m pretty sure it was cracked. We only stepped in for a little bit, but the moonlight was a little distorted on that side of the room.” Mao’s heart soars. It seems that Eichi has reached the same conclusion as him, because moments later the blonde responds to Arashi and Mao.

“You think whoever the culprit was used the window ledges below the Student Council Room to break their fall?”

“Right now, it makes sense. I’m sure if their feet were small enough, they could do it. The ledges aren’t too small, after all.” Mao recalls seeing squirrels and other animals running on the window ledges, so they had to be at least that wide. It wasn’t a lot, but all the falling person really had to do was get their foot on the landing, at least for a second, to break their fall safely.

“Kuma-kun, didn’t you find something in front of the school? By one of the windows?” Izumi turns to Ritsu, who (unsurprisingly) appears to be sleeping on his feet. The grey-haired boy mutters something about annoying sleeping habits under his breath, before punching Ritsu in the arm. Ritsu jumps in response, as much as he can have a physical reaction of any kind, turning to give Izumi a sleepy death glare before mumbling out some form of a “what do you want?”.

“You found something under the window when we first went to go find the body. Remember?” Ritsu pauses for a moment, before nodding and reaching a hand into his pocket. Moments later, he withdraws his hand to reveal an assortment of clear pieces and one dark, near black one. It’s shaped like a triangle, and looks like some kind of plain, dark metal. Mao can’t help but think that it sort of reminds him of the point of a star. The general reaction seems to be confusion when Ritsu holds his hand out, but it quickly settles into some form of understanding.

Before Ritsu can say anything, however, Mao is reminded of something. Well, actually, two somethings. One, the strange object he found in the hallway, currently in his own jacket pocket. Two, the ‘blade’ that Koga had mentioned during their short conversation in the kitchen.

“Sorry, Ritchan, but let me speak for a minute. Oogami, do you have that ‘blade’ you told me about in the kitchen? If so, can I please see it?” Koga’s golden eyes blink back, expressionless, for a moment, before he pulls a piece of metal, probably about eleven inches long, out of his back pocket. Carefully, the piece is passed down to Mao, who stares at it for a moment. From what he can see in Ritsu’s hand, this metal isn’t the same color as the one his friend is holding-the one Mao has is lighter, and thicker.

There’s a spot on the metal object a couple of inches down that almost looks like the hilt of a sword, a small rectangle forming around the object. Looking at it from the side, it almost looks like a knife, without the handle. Careful not to cut himself, Mao reaches into his own pocket, pulling out the plastic object he’d found in the hallway. After pushing it against the blade, experimentally, the two pieces suddenly snapped to each other like a puzzle, creating a standard kitchen knife.

“Isara. Let me see that.” From his left comes Hokuto’s urgent voice. Mao nods, passing the knife down. It’s much easier to handle now that it has one, and Hokuto turns the object over in his hands a few times before sighing.

“Is something wrong?” Mao looks over, his eyes filled with obvious concern.

“Last night, Akehoshi showed up to my room at about 9:30. He said that he’d found something interesting in the Student Council Room, and that he wanted me to come see it. I told him I was too tired, but that if he was going to be over there by himself, to take something to defend himself with.” Hokuto looks down at the knife almost apologetically.

Oh.

“Can you pass that down here?” Keito is holding his hand out expectantly, and Hokuto sends the knife down towards him.

“So you’re saying that Subaru had this with him for self defense?” Hokuto nods. “That would mean it wasn’t the murder weapon.” Mao breathed out, heavily. That was inconvenient, to say the least. Now they had no murder weapon, along with no definitive suspect.

“I don’t think this is what could have scratched the walls, either. The blade is too thick. Sakuma, pass that metal piece down here.” Once more, the object is passed down the circle to Keito, who turns it over in his hand carefully. Mao watches, and the green-haired boy suddenly winces, bright red appearing down the palm of his hand. He must have cut himself, Mao realizes.

“Kanzaki, Kiryu, do you think this is what scratched the walls and killed Subaru?” Keito holds out his injured hand, and the metal shard, held in between two of his fingers on the other hand. The other two look down, then at each other, and then back at Keito in only a matter of second.

Their answer is a resounding yes.

“So, we have the murder weapon. Now, we just need the culprit.” Mao speaks to himself, then raises his voice. “Hokuto, did Subaru say anything else to you? Like, about what he had found.” Mao’s pretty sure it has to do with the executions forms with his name written on them, as a large amount were found in Subaru’s room.

“It was probably the execution forms. What else could there have been in the Student Council Room?” Mao nods.

“If they were the ones that I apparently signed, then I agree. He probably would have wanted to tell the rest of us a soon as possible.” So then why did he only go to you? Mao leaves the last part of his question unspoken-Subaru had always seemed to be the closest to Hokuto, after all.

“So, we know that Subaru was in the Student Council Room, with that knife, late last night. He also knew about the execution forms I had signed, and presumably would want to ask people about it, knowing him. Now, we just have to figure out why the killer was by the Student Council Room so late, and what prompted them to attack Subaru.” Mao’s head is starting to pound, he feels like he’s been doing most of the work during this trial.

“Isara, I think I have an answer to your question! The killer might have been intending to go to the roof. I know from those close to me that it can be a place of relaxation, especially on a beautiful night like last night.” Chiaki beams at Mao. The younger boy almost disregards the brunette’s statements, but something about them catches Mao’s attention.

‘Those close to me…’

“Hasumi-senpai, can you pass the triangle?” Mao leans over the railing a little bit, wondering if he’s onto something. The conclusion he’s starting to reach is equally as confusing as his original one, but the evidence this time seems to back it up even better. When the triangle reaches Mao, he takes a deep breath, before pressing it into the palm of his hand, almost near his fingers.

“Mao, what are you doing!” Makoto’s hand shoots out, trying to grab the object, but Mao turns away, pressing another triangle at a ninety degree angle to the first one. Then another, opposite the first one, and a last one to close the object. Raising his hand up, there’s a red, slightly bloody mark on his hand, in the shape of a four-pointed star, the middle have a small circle, something he’d been unable to see from far away. If the object is sharp enough to create marks of this degree without a lot of pressure, then surely it could be used to crack a window, right?

There’s only one thing it could be, he tells himself. Thinking about it more, it begins to add up. The person could have had a reason to go to the roof, they would be against the idea of killing others, and they would have known about the original execution forms as well. In addition, the would have access to the object in the shape currently printed on the center of Mao’s hand, held up for everyone to see.

“Shinobu Sengoku...was it you?”

Chiaki immediately jumps to the younger boy’s defense, no surprise. Shinobu seems shocked, although the look on his face is more akin to that of a deer in the headlights. ‘I...I think I might have it,’ Mao tells himself, his heart beginning to pound.

“Isara, we’re warriors of justice! None of us would ever harm anyone unless it was for the sake of justice!”

“Thank you, de gozaru! It’s as Morisawa-senpai said! I’d never kill anyone!” Shinobu’s voice is shaking and faltering, almost painfully so, and Mao can’t help but feel bad for the younger boy.

“Please, listen to me. I know this is ridiculous, but please, hear me out. The culprit was someone who had would have been against the idea of killing, which was prompted by the motive we were given. Then, they probably would have been someone who knew about the execution forms, or else they wouldn’t have reacted when Subaru approached them with one. In addition, we know that the murder weapon is the same as this metal, which can form the shape of a star! And, Sengoku-kun, you’re a ninja in training, right? Surely, you’d have the agility, along with being the right size, to land yourself on the window ledges to ensure you didn’t fall to your death from the Student Council Room. Lastly, your room is the left of Sena-senpai's and Ritchan’s, which is where the door slam they both heard came from!” Realizing he’s nearly winded himself, Mao takes a couple deep breaths, which block out the silence around him.

“Please be rational, it was in self defense!” When Mao looks up, he can see Shinobu’s pleading face, tears forming in the younger boy’s eyes. Surely, he knows he’s been caught.

“Last night, I went up to the roof to relax. Or, I was going to, until he came running out of the room, holding an execution form, a knife, and yelling! What else was I supposed to do? I panicked!” Shinobu leans over the railing, which he has a white knuckle grip on, pleading with the group of students in front of him. Mao’s heart aches with pity. He can tell that people are starting to see his logic, and it hurts him to know that they’re going to have to submit Shinobu to ‘punishment’ when the boy didn’t even mean to kill Subaru.

“Sengoku...is it true?” Chiaki looks down at the ground for a moment, then at Shinobu. The boy only nods, rubbing at his eyes with his sleeves. There’s a moment of silence before Chiaki pulls Shinobu into a tight hug, and that’s when it hits Mao how much faith Chiaki really has in his other unit members.

“Have we reached a decision then?” Mademoiselle, who had remained silently nonexistent throughout the trial, speaks up. The lack of answer seems to be exactly what she wants, and suddenly little screens on the fronts of the railings flicker to life.

“Please scroll through the student roster until you find the student you wish to vote guilty. Submit your vote by tapping their face twice. Be careful, as only one vote can be submitted.” The sound of double taps echoes through the room, each one making Mao feel more and more guilty. After about thirty seconds, a buzzer rings, and a large screen on the wall behind Mademoiselle’s throne comes on. It looks like a slots machine, with small, colored circles spinning rapidly on it. As they slow, Mao sees they’re actually heads. Eventually, they all stop, revealing each one to have landed on Shinobu’s head. The word ‘CORRECT’ flashed on the top of the screen, which then promptly shuts off.

Mademoiselle giggles, descending from her throne.

“Now, it seems we are due for some punishment, correct?” Mao can’t look. He can’t look now.

“Punishment?!” The panic in Shinobu’s voice is evident. “What punishment?” Mademoiselle stands in front of Shinobu, tying a rope around one of his arms.

“Have you ever heard of karma? What comes around, goes around. I do believe it is a lesson most of you in this room need to hear.” And with that, Mademoiselle drags Shinobu to the back of the room, to the large metal door, ands shoves him through. The last thing Mao hears is his pleading voice. Moments later, Mademoiselle is seated comfortably once more, and the screen behind her flickers on. It’s black, with white text across it that reads, ‘Shadows Revealed- The Yellow Ninja’s Demise’.

The screen cuts to Shinobu standing on a large wooden platform, a dark wall behind him. His eyes are filled with fear, and he’s yelling something, although there’s no audio on the video. His mouth shuts for a moment, and then Shinobu ducks down faster than should be humanly possible. It’s for good measure too, Mao thinks, as moments later, a ridiculously large ninja star goes flying over Shinobu’s head. 

Slowly, more and more of the stars being to fill the screen. Mao can tell Shinobu’s being hit, there’s enough blood for him to tell, but the boy is still trying furiously to dodge the objects that come flying at him. Suddenly, his backwards movement stops, and Mao realizes that he’s hit the wall behind him. Moments later, a star comes in, pinning a slightly outstretched arm to the wall. Moments later, the other. With nowhere to run, Mao can see the utter despair in Shinobu’s eyes as he can only watch his fate approach. 

There’s another large star, a single one, flying across the screen. Before it hits Shinobu, however, the screen fades to black. There’s a loud thud in the distance, the sound clearly not coming from the video, and Mao winces. He can’t believe what he’s just done. He’s just sent someone to their death.

As everyone turns to each other to recover from the video, Mao spies a door behind him, which has been flung open. It leads to a flight of stairs, which surely will take him to above ground. Making sure no one sees him, the red-haired boy slips away from the crowd, running for the stairs and desperately craving some peace and quiet, alone.

 

Chapter 1: End.

SURVIVORS: Hokuto, Mao, Makoto, Rei, Koga, Kaoru, Adonis, Mika, Shu, Hinata, Yuuta, Izumi, Arashi, Ritsu, Tsukasa, Chiaki, Kanata, Midori, Tetora, Keito, Kuro, Souma, Nazuna, Tomoya, Mitsuru, Hajime, Eichi, Yuzuru, Wataru, and Tori.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> my poor baby shinobun ;_; i'm sorry son i didn't want to kill you i was in pain throughout the entire section  
> on a different note, i'll probably be writing from another pov next chapter! there's a lot of characters, some of which haven't gotten a lot of screen time yet, so that's a good way to get them in  
> however, as far as 'main characters' go, yea i'm pretty sure that's mao at this point. he's fun and easy for me to write
> 
> thanks for staying we me thus far!! almost fifty kudos and 1000 his wowow
> 
> as always, hmu on twitter @squirrellissa !!


	9. 2-1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "How did I even get into this mess?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you for all the feedback so far! i hope the first trial lived up to everyone's expectations :))
> 
> i hate this next case  
> i hate it so much  
> i dont want to write it  
> it hurts me  
> and that's all i have to say  
> enjoy

Yuuta wants to wake up.

He’s not sure if he means it in the physical sense-to actually wake up and discover that this was all just a really bad dream; or in the mental state- just to feel more alive again. He stands in the shower in the small bathroom off of his room, letting frigid water run down his back and swirl into the drain. Yes, he could make the water hot, but the pain from the cold helps numb the emotional pain and keeps him somewhat awake.

He tries to focus on something, anything else to distract himself, but it’s hard to keep himself focused on a task as mundane as counting the rows of tiles on the bathroom door. Deciding that spending too much more time in such cold water is probably not good for his health, Yuuta reluctantly shuts off the water.

The air in his room itself is much warmer, the contrast making him feel uncomfortable. Surely, there’s a thermostat in this room, right? There is, it’s next to the door, and he quickly changes the thermostat to make the room much cooler-it is pretty hot outside anyways. After changing back into his uniform, the younger twin is about to try to find his brother, or at least someone to talk to, when a small bell sounds. He jumps, thinking it’s another announcement, but when a voice doesn’t sound after, he quickly reaches the conclusion that it might be a doorbell.

His suspicions are proven correct when he opens the door, revealing Tsukasa and his brother. Without saying anything, they both take the invitation to step into Yuuta’s room, closing the door behind them harshly.

“Yuuta-kun, you scared us! Why didn’t you open the door when we knocked?” Hinata practically leaps onto his brother, holding him in a bone-crushing hug until Yuuta’s pretty sure he’s seeing stars from how little he can breath. When he stammers out a breathless “A-aniki, oxygen!” however, the older twin lets him go.

“You knocked?” Yuuta brushes a bit of damp hair out of his face. Hinata and Tsukasa both nod, almost at the exact same time.

“We were knocking for...probably about five minutes.” Tsukasa explains.

“Oh, I didn’t hear it. Maybe the rooms are soundproofed?” Yuuta shrugs, glad to be out of his brother’s suffocating hold, and steps back to collapse on his bed. “What do you need, anyways?”

“We have something for you.” Hinata falls down next to his brother, and Tsukasa sits rather stiffly at the foot of Yuuta’s bed. Yuuta, in turn, sits up a little bit, watching as Tsukasa digs around in his pocket for something.

“I guess Shinobu gave these to Chiaki...there was one for each member of Ryuseitai, but there was an extra. Morisawa-senpai told us to find whoever was closest to Shinobu-kun and give them this...so we found you.” Yuuta remembered that his brother was standing next to Chiaki on the elevator ride back up to the ground, so Tsukasa must have found him sometime after Yuuta left. He’d been one of the first to break away from the crowd, desperately wanting to get somewhere he could be alone.

Tsukasa pulls something small and dark out of his pocket and holds it out. Yuuta takes it into his own hands, flipping it over a couple times in slight disbelief. It’s one of the ninja stars that Shinobu always carried with him. Hinata sat up next to him to look at the star again, although he didn’t say anything. Feeling his emotions threatening to betray him again, Yuuta pulls in the two other first years, trying to hug both of them and whispering a broken “thank you” as he tries to ignore the tears rolling down his face.

 

A few doors down, Nazuna is doing his best to console three worked up underclassmen while not letting his own emotions show. The four Ra*bits sit in a circle on his bed, mostly trying to console Hajime, who is currently the most upset. Nazuna can’t blame the boy for being so upset- he’s always been a bit quick to scare, and anyone would be reasonably scared after watching someone their age be executed for a part of some sick game.

“I don’t get it. Are we all...going to...you know..” Nazuna looks up as Tomoya start speaking, the younger boy’s brown eyes staring at a spot on the shiny, white flooring. ‘We might,’ Nazuna tells himself, but he knows he can’t say that out loud.

“We’ll be okay,” he tells himself as much as he tells the others. “After...that, I think we all know what’s at stake here.” His words feel heavy and strange, and the blonde finds himself focusing on each syllable to make sure he doesn’t mispronounce anything.

“We should eat more!” Mitsuru says, the enthusiasm in his voice clearly forced. “Ado-chan-senpai always says that people who eat more are stronger! If we get stronger, than no one will hurt us,” he explains to Nazuna’s confused look. That even makes Hajime laugh, the blue haired boy raising his head a little bit. His eyes are red, and his nose and lips look red and puffy. One of his small hands runs under his eyes, trying to wipe away the tears that are still falling.

Thankful that the boy has stopped crying, but fearing he’ll start up again, Nazuna pulls Hajime towards him, wrapping his arms around the first year. He tenses up for a moment, but quickly relaxes when he remembers that it’s just Nazuna, and that no one in the room would hurt him. The poor boy is shaking, Nazuna realizes, and reaches to brush a piece of blue hair out of his junior’s face in a small attempt to reassure him that they’ll be okay.

Not much later, Nazuna realizes that Hajime’s actually fallen asleep, his head on Nazuna’s shoulder and his breathing considerably slower. He’s unsurprised-no one’s slept in a very long time- it’s well past 10 am now, so it’s been over 24 hours. His own eyes feel heavy, and he’s surprised he hasn’t passed out himself.

“You two should go get some rest. It’s been a long day for everyone.” Mitsuru and Tomoya exit Nazuna’s room, leaving him with a sleeping Hajime. He’s glad that they trust him that much-the thought of hurting one of his unit members hurts him too, but he’s sure that there are some people in this school right now that would be too paranoid to leave anyone alone when they were sleeping.

He’d meant to stay awake until Hajime at least started to wake up, that way the boy wouldn’t feel awkward, but the fact that he’d been awake for at least 27 hours with only a small amount of sleep in the middle was really starting to wear on him. Closing his eyes and leaning back against his headboard gently, as to not wake the younger boy up, it was only a matter of minutes before sleep found him too.

 

It’s past 1 pm when most people began to filter into the cafeteria. Pretty much everyone is in on the silent agreement to be calm and as patient as possible: they were all tired, hungry, and upset, and it would inevitably cause fighting to break out- the last thing they needed. Sluggishly, Souma makes his way over to sit with Adonis and the rest of Undead-he wasn’t incredibly fond of most of them, but he trusts Adonis and has a feeling that Keito would only want to talk about the case. Souma respects his upperclassman greatly, but right now talking about the trial might be a little too much for him.

Next to him, Souma realizes that one thing hadn’t changed-Adonis’s enormous appetite. How anyone could eat anything substantial right now seems a bit of a mystery to him-there was just so much going on that he felt sick to his stomach-but then again, Adonis has always been a big believer of food in general.

“Kanzaki, you should really eat more than that.” He knows it was coming, but Souma shrugs in response, taking another bite out of an apple he’d grabbed. It’s a bit too sweet, but maybe the sugar can keep him from falling asleep again.

“Have you seen Isara?” Souma asks, deliberately changing the subject and looking around the room. He’d been one of the only people to notice that the red-haired boy hadn’t been on the elevator on the way up, and of course he’d told Adonis. Adonis nods, pointing to a table in one of the back corners of the room, away from everyone else. The large table they’d made in the middle of the room had been undone, possibly by Mademoiselle, but no one had made an effort to recreate it yet.

Mao, the rest of Trickstar, and Ritsu, are sitting at that table, talking about something quietly. Souma notices that Mao looks horrible-his normally pinned-up hair is down, and he doesn’t look like he slept after the trial either. Souma has a feeling that Mao might feel guilty for what happened to Shinobu, but he shouldn’t-everyone else voted for the first year as well. Besides, what would have happened if they’d voted incorrectly?

“Are you worried about Isara?” Souma jumps, looking across the table. Rei looks from the table from where the second years are sitting to Souma. He nods, sitting up a little more in his seat.

“You should talk to him. He seems upset, maybe you’d be able to help.” Souma wants to ask why Rei hasn’t done anything himself if he noticed what Souma did, but that sounds a bit too harsh. He doesn’t know a lot about his upperclassman anyways, maybe it’s a personal thing. Souma distinctly remembers something about Ritsu disliking Rei, so maybe he’d just trying to avoid conflict? It doesn’t matter. Excusing himself quietly, Souma makes his way over to the table.

He’s less familiar with some of these boys, so he doesn’t say anything when he gets to their table-he stands by the side and waits for one of them to notice him. After a few seconds of standing there awkwardly, Hokuto turns to him, a tired, confused look on his face.

“Is there something you need?” Souma nods a little, turning to face Mao. The red-haired boy looks equally as confused as Hokuto, but waits for Souma to talk anyways.

“Isara-dono...I just want to tell you that you shouldn’t feel guilty about what happened this morning. Every other person in this room voted, and we made the choice to trust you. In fact, I think we should be thankful for you, as you saved us from that ‘punishment’.” He finishes speaking, waiting for a response.

“How did you know?” Mao looks grateful, but surprised too. His eyes are wide, at least. Souma doesn’t know how to respond-it was just a guess, he was only hoping he would say the right thing.

“Intuition, I suppose.”

 

It’s well past midnight when two figures meet in the courtyard, standing in front of the fountain. In contrast to last night, stormclouds have begun rolling in, mostly blocking the moon and stars and darkening the night sky considerably.

“You called for me?” The smaller of the two figures spoke first. The taller one nodded, crossing his arms.

“It has come to our attention that you have been misbehaving.”

“Misbehaving?” The shorter one’s voice and stance quickly become much more defensive.

“Yes. You know what we mean.”

“But you’re in a much greater position to let something slip!”

“Be quiet!” The taller one’s hand covers the shorter one’s mouth, and they look around for any sign of people.

“Be grateful we’re giving you this warning. Next time, we will not be so forgiving.” The taller one hisses out the threat, and proceed to leave quickly. The shorter one, still standing alone in the courtyard, looks up to the sky, watching as raindrops being to fall. Thunder rumbles in the distance, and they can’t help but sigh.

“How did I even get into this mess?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hhhHHH everyone's been hit by the feels bus
> 
> at least these not trial/investigation chapters are a bit easier to write...they get done quicker, at least  
> thanks for reading!
> 
>  
> 
> twitter @squirrellissa


	10. 2-2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Maybe, if things could just stay like this, it wouldn’t be so bad.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> wooo double update! i was hit with ~inspiration~ lol
> 
> thanks to 2wink/ @tsukayuuta on twitter for giving me the idea for the first scene and helping me sort out honorifics (i'm going back and editing them...slowly....painfully)

“What do you mean, you’re staying the night?” Yuuta stands in his doorway, staring down Tsukasa and Hinata, who are back in front of his room. They both have pillows tucked under their arms, and look like they’re ready to pass out. It’s the night after the trial, and while things in Yuuta’s mind have calmed down a little bit, they’re not the best, either.

“Yuuta-kun, just look at yourself! You need some cheering up.” Yuuta wants to spit back at his brother, to insist that he’s fine, but everyone and their grandmother would be able to pick that out as a lie. He bites his lip, but lets the other first years into the room anyways. The door closes with a soft noise, and when Yuuta turns around, his brother has pulled the pillow out from under his arm and has it raised.

Yuuta raises an eyebrow, and Hinata holds a finger to his lips. Tsukasa, who is seemingly unaware, doesn’t move from his position, fixing the covers on Yuuta’s bed instead. Hinata draws his arm back dramatically, and Yuuta tries to stifle the laugh that slips past his lips. Its fails, at least enough for Tsukasa to hear, and his eyes travel from the laughing younger twin, the older one ready to slap him in the face with a pillow,

“Don’t you da-” Tsukasa, who’s kneeling on the middle of Yuuta’s bed, puts a hand up to shield his face, the other one blindly searching for his own pillow. Hinata swings his arm forwards, and it hits Tsukasa’s head, despite the hand there. Tsukasa looks up, dazed, for a moment, before collapsing face first onto the mattress. 

“Aniki, you killed him!” Yuuta kneels at the foot of his bed, picking up Tsukasa’s head. The boy is completely motionless, and Yuuta’s heart is leaping in his throat-he can’t sentence his brother to do death, that’s the last thing he’d ever be able to do. Hinata seems equally surprised, and confused, moving over to kneel by Tsukasa’s side. He stares down at the boy for a moment, before waving his hand in front of Tsukasa’s face.

“What are you doing?”

“He’s breathing! See, he’s fine. He’s fine.” Hinata seems to be telling himself this as much as he’s telling Yuuta. The twins sit in silence for a few minutes, observing Tsukasa’s breathing until one of his amethyst eyes slowly opens. He makes a pained face, rubbing at his nose slightly.

“Ugh, Hinata-kun, that hurt. Why did you do that?” Tsukasa sits up, lightly smacking Hinata on the back of the head and yawning loudly. “I’m tired. Are we going to sleep or something? You probably need it, too.” Yuuta nods, falling down on the right side of his bed rather unceremoniously. That is, until Hinata shoves him over to the middle of his bed, taking that spot for himself.

“Aniki, personal space!” Yuuta rolls onto his side, looking away from the stupidly cheesy grin his brother has. The lights in the room go out suddenly, leaving only a small glow of light around the peephole in the door. It’s probably cloudy tonight, Yuuta realizes, as he’s sure the windows are open.

A few moments and footsteps later, he feels the mattress shift on in front of him. He can barely see Tsukasa, but the warmth radiating off of the other first year is constant and comforting. He’s facing away from the twins, and Yuuta realizes that he probably feels a little awkward in a situation like this: Hinata probably dragged him along in an attempt to cheer up Yuuta. Behind him, Hinata suddenly giggles, and Yuuta jumps at the sudden noise.

“It’s just like when we were like little kids, right?” He presses his knees and chest into Yuuta’s back, and Yuuta smiles quietly to himself. His brother’s always been clingy in his sleep, like he’s trying to suck all the warmth out of whoever’s next to him. He knows, because when they were little, they’d always console each other after bad dreams and the like.

The phrase ‘bad dream’ hovers in Yuuta’s mind, and he clears his throat slightly, trying to push out the feeling that gathers in his chest. At this point, he knows it’s not a bad dream, but he doesn’t want to stop believing that it is either. Finally, the younger twin lets his eyes shut, trying to turn his mind off for the time being in order to get some well-needed, well-deserved sleep.  
He’s almost asleep, and the room is quiet when Yuuta hears movement from in front of him. He figures it’s just Tsukasa rolling over in his sleep. Instead, however, Yuuta feels Tsukasa grabbing one of his hands. It takes a bit of self-control not to laugh, because Tsukasa was tense earlier and probably thinks that Yuuta’s sleeping now, but he silently mouths the word ‘thanks’ anyways.

 

The next morning at breakfast, everyone is actually present, and looks a bit more alive. Nazuna is glad to see that his underclassmen look a little less upset, at the very least, as they chat about something at breakfast. He’s not paying full attention, he’s reading through the rulebook and desperately trying to find a loophole to exploit, but it seems that so far, everything is solid.

“Mitsuru-kun, you’re going to explode if you eat that!” Nazuna looks up, sliding his ID back in his pocket to see Tomoya trying to wrestle a muffin of sorts out of the brunette’s hands, and about three empty plates stacked next to the boy. He remembers what Mitsuru had said yesterday about eating more, and sighs.

“Mitsuru-chin, don’t make yourself sick,” he warns the younger boy, who looks between Nazuna and the muffin a couple times before setting it down on the table. Tomoya mutters a small ‘thank you’ and wipes his hands on a napkin next to him-they’re smeared with the chocolate from the muffin. Mitsuru, who was holding the part with the wrapper, instead stands up to go throw the mess of food out and to put the large number of plates he’s accumulated in the sink.

Nazuna realized that Hajime is gone too, just a small, half empty cup of slightly steaming tea left in his place. His eyes scan the room, looking for the familiar blue color, before he finds the first year standing next to Eichi, of all people. They seem to be talking, at least, and Hajime does have a small smile on his face, so Nazuna leaves it. 

He doesn’t like Eichi, and he knows he’s not along, but the blonde has never been particularly cruel to Hajime. In fact, Hajime seems to speak pretty highly of him. He watches their conversation for a couple more minutes, until Eichi seems to dismiss Hajime, who comes back to the Ra*bits table and sits down next to Nazuna.

“Is something wrong?” Hajime looks up from his teacup, staring at Nazuna with wide violet eyes. Nazuna realizes he’s probably go some sort of confused look on his face, and sighs, shaking his head no.

“Nope, everything’s okay.” The duo spend a few more minutes talking, before Tomoya and Mitsuru are calling Hajime from the other side of the room. Hajime leaves, waving goodbye to Nazuna, and goes to meet the other two. There's a small smile on the blonde's face as he watches his three juniors leave the room together. There are times, like this one, where he feels like more of a parent than a big brother, but as long as the rest of Ra*bits is happy, so is he.

 

Not long after breakfast, a large storm rolls in, trapping everyone in whatever building they happened to be in for the time being. Standing in the room that was once his classroom, Souma stares out of the window, watching the raindrops pelt the glass surface. It’s hard to think that a little over a day ago, there was a dead body just a couple floors above him. Said body was now gone, removed by Mademoiselle for ‘sanitation purposes’. No one had asked where the body had gone, because quite frankly, no one wanted to know. 

His eyes travel to his desk, and from his spot, Souma can see the faint chips in the side from all the times he'd accidentally hit it with his katana, and the black stain on the left corner from that time a pen had exploded on his hands. That had been a nightmare to clean up, he remembers. Thinking of the past is a bit of a painful thing to do, now that everyone's trapped in this sick game, but Souma is grateful that he hasn't really been personally affected, at least not yet.

Still smiling slightly, he turns his head to gaze back out through the window. The glass is beginning to fog over, and his breathing against it doesn't help, although that smaller, more concentrated fog disappears just as fast as it forms. Suddenly, through the thick rain, Souma sees a faint blue spot outside. He rubs the glass clean of the slight fog that’s formed on the surface, trying to see what it is, before realizing that it’s Kanata. Of course,that boy wouldn’t be bothered by a rainstorm at all. However, the fact that the clouds above are rather large thunderheads make Souma a bit concerned for his upperclassman’s well-being.

It takes a moment to convince himself, but soon Souma finds himself sprinting out into the rain, blinking it out of his eyes and trying not to think of how annoying it’s going to be when he has to dry his hair later. At least the rain is cool, refreshing compared to the stiflingly hot weather that had become the norm.

“Shinkai-dono!” Souma calls out when he can’t spot Kanata anywhere, despite his brightly-colored hair. His feet start to move in a different direction when he remembers that Kanata goes in the fountain quite frequently, and sure enough, Souma finds the blue haired boy sitting in the fountain. He’s cross-legged, eyes closed, almost like he’s meditating.

“Shinkai-dono, it’s storming!’ ‘Obviously, it’s storming!’ Souma tells himself, feeling the stupidity in his own words sting. Kanata opens his eyes, blinking slowly up at Souma, before a surprisingly strong hand emerges and drags the unsuspecting second-year into the water next to Kanata.

“I appreciate your ‘concern’, but you should relax.” Kanata looks at Souma, his eyes bright and caring. Souma sighs, and almost laughs, but doesn’t make any effort to move. The rain had thoroughly soaked him while he was trying to find Kanata, so what was the point in running away now? He leans against one of the sides, which is considerably cooler than last time Souma had felt the stone.

He enjoys the silence, the constant splash of raindrops on the fountain’s surface almost relaxing, before a telltale rumble reminds Souma of where he is, and what’s going on. His eyes dart up to the sky, nervously glancing around, before he sees a flash in the near distance.

“Shinkai-dono, get up! There’s lightning!” Souma stands up, awkwardly splashing his way over the side of the fountain as he gets out, then turns to face the third year. He stands slowly, long legs unfolding, and gracefully steps over the side, blinking down at Souma silently. Souma looks back up, about to say something, before there’s another, louder rumble, and he grabs Kanata’s hand, pulling him rapidly towards the dormitory building.

Once inside, Souma groans, wringing out his hair on one of the mats on the floor. It seems that someone had enough sense to put something in front of the door, at least, as the mats hadn’t been there before. When he steps off of the mat, the floor is a little slippery, but it’s manageable as long as he doesn’t run.

Souma makes a beeline for his room, trying to ignore the annoying way the water from his hair drips down his back and into his face. He completely forgets Kanata’s there, until he closes the door to his room and sees Kanata standing behind him. Souma jumps, nearly hitting the wall behind him, but he can’t kick Kanata, of all people out.

Soums goes to grab a few towels, and when he comes back out from the bathroom, Kanata’s standing in front of the window, watching the rain. There’s a slightly contented smile on his face, even as sharp thunder and lighting that make Souma jump more than he would care to admit cross the sky. He taps Kanata on the shoulder once, twice, and even calls the boy’s name, but he doesn’t get a response. Finally giving up, Souma drapes a towel over Kanata’s shoulders, and then gets to the task of drying his own hair.

Maybe, if things could just stay like this, it wouldn’t be so bad.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i figured after all of those feels, we could use a little less angst up in this joint
> 
> thanks for sticking with me so far!  
> twitter @squirrellissa


	11. 2-3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Rule infractions will result in punishment.” The words send a shiver down his spine, even though Adonis knows they’re not directed at him. It sounds like something that would come straight out of Mademoiselle’s mouth.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> fuck happele. i just wanted to play to 660,000 points and get the hokke for this event but nO he's rank  
> so yea, here's another chapter. i'm currently ranking in three different games and i'm lowkey dying right now so i'll try to update when i can
> 
> also is it safe to add the twinkasa tag now bc i think it is

The night comes, accompanied by a large storm with thunder so strong that the windows begin to shake. As a small break in the storm comes, Adonis goes to open his windows and let the air circulate-it’s been hot lately, and technology isn’t his best friend, so the thermostat has been a bit difficult to work. To his surprise, there’s a strong breeze that blows into his face when the window is opened, but apart from that, there’s no rain. The air is a bit sticky, but considerably cooler than it has been in the past.

Breathing in the cool air, the tall second year leans his head on the ledge, looking outside. The moon is now slightly visible through the shrinking clouds, which seem to be moving away. It’s been storming on and off for the past twenty-four hours, and he thinks that maybe, the storm is finally coming to a close.

After a few minutes, Adonis is about to close the window, when his eyes land on something on the ground. It’s easy to tell that it’s a person, and they’re pacing back and forth in front of the fountain. Adonis is about to call out to them, to say something, and maybe ask who they are, but the person speaks before he can.

“Rule infractions will result in punishment.” The words send a shiver down his spine, even though Adonis knows they’re not directed at him. It sounds like something that would come straight out of Mademoiselle’s mouth. Feeling as if there’s more urgency added onto the situation, Adonis leans forwards, trying to get a better look at who the person is now. However, in doing so, he slams his head into the windowsill, hard enough to daze himself and make quite the noise.  
When the spots of light clear from his vision enough to see, the person is nowhere to be seen. Instead, there’s just more rain, falling hard and fast into the second year’s face. Slightly frustrated, and mostly exhausted, he makes a mental note to tell someone, even if it’s just Kanzaki, about this scene tomorrow morning.

 

The next morning, the rain has cleared completely, and the sun is once again shining brightly in the sky, accompanied by only a few, wispy clouds. Squinting against the white light coming into his room, it only takes Tsukasa a few moments more to be fully awake. Glancing at the clock on the opposite wall, he still has about an hour until the bell goes off, waking everyone up for real. The sun probably woke him up. Maybe he’ll look around the campus a bit before breakfast, and see if the rain’s washed up anything.

By the time he’s showered enough to feel clean (quite a long amount of time) and gotten dressed, there’s only fifteen minutes until the bell goes off: not really enough time to do anything but walk to the cafeteria. Making his way down the hall, Tsukasa is surprised to see someone else out already, stopped in front of a door. It takes a few moments for him to realize who it is, although he can’t tell why they’re stopped.

“Morisawa-senpai, it is awfully early to be awake, isn’t it?” He comes up behind the brunette, before realizing that he’s been standing in front of Shinobu’s door. A small twinge of pain goes through Tsukasa’s heart, remembering Chiaki before the first year’s execution, but he doesn’t say anything. No need to make the injury worse, right? Chiaki twitches where he’s standing, then turns and looks down to see Tsukasa looks at the door in front of them.

“Good morning, Suou. I’ve been stopping here every morning to pay my respects to a fallen hero.” Chiaki sighs, his voice unusually somber, running a hand through his hair, before he sees to remember something. “Do you know if Hinata found someone to give the star to? Sorry, I don’t really know how close you two are.”

“Yes, we went together. He gave it to his brother, who was quite emotional, but he seems a little better off now.” Tsukasa stares up at the door, reading the small characters carved into it over and over, repeating the name in his head. He wasn’t the closest to Shinobu, but it was still nerve-wracking to see someone your own age being executed nonetheless.

“Are you going to be going to the cafeteria? There isn’t a lot of time left until breakfast begins.” Chiaki looks like he’s contemplating the answer for a few seconds, before he shakes his head no.

“You go on ahead, I’ll be there on time. I just need a couple more minutes.” Tsukasa nods, it’s not really good to stand and awkwardly watch his upperclassman anyways. He listens to his own quiet footsteps as he leaves, the only sound in the nearly deserted hallway.

Unsurprisingly, the redhead is the first one to the cafeteria. Once inside, he turns the lights on, and looks around. It’s a bit scary to be in a such a large space on his own, where anyone could be hiding behind a chair or under a table. Violet eyes scan the room slowly, looking for any signs of life. Once his brain has deemed it safe enough to continue, he sits down at the usual Knights table, waiting for others to show up.

A few minutes later, Chiaki shows up, accompanied by the rest of Ryuseitai. He wonders for a moment if they all spent a moment at Shinobu’s door, or if that was a Chiaki-only thing. He doesn’t ask, just smiles, and waves at the other unit, greeting them with a simple “good morning”. They take a seat at their own table, talking quietly about something. Bored and alone, Tsukasa taps his fingers idly across the screen of his ID, staring at the doors until they finally move.

Everyone, even the ever-tired Ritsu, stumbles in the door on time-although, Ritsu is more being dragged through the door by Arashi and Mao, so he doesn’t really count. Izumi is already sitting at the table with Tsukasa, silently, observing the room. Ritsu falls into a chair, looking about three seconds from falling asleep, and Arashi then throws herself down, sighing heavily.

“Did you not sleep well? The sun woke me up earlier than I had planned.” Tsukasa turns to the blonde, who slouches a little in her chair.

“I’m just so stressed, I can’t get my beauty sleep anymore. You understand, right, Izumi-chan?” The blonde leans to the side of her chair that lets her invade Izumi’s rather large personal bubble, causing him to shove Arashi back a little bit. She sighs, grumbling something under her breath about how ‘he’s not getting it either’, before putting on her usual cheery face and sitting back up.  
A few moments later, when Arashi leaves the table to get something to eat, Izumi takes to complain about Arashi.

“Shitty okama...always in my space..” he mumbles something unintelligible, and Tsukasa looks down at Ritsu for advice, only to realize that the black-haired boy is asleep with his head on the cold tabletop. Tsukasa sighs, he doesn’t like confronting his seniors, and he doesn’t agree with all of Arashi’s ways, but the last thing anyone needs in this situation is any kind of tension or conflict (not that this behavior isn’t normal from Izumi).

Waiting for Arashi to come back and bring her false cheeriness with her is possibly the longest wait in Tsukasa’s life. When he notices that she’s spent the last five minutes talking to Adonis over a large plate of food that is most certainly not hers, and the twins have gone to get food, Tsukasa quickly excuses himself, going to meet the brothers.

“Tsukasa-kun!” Hinata smiles, and Yuuta waves as the redhead approaches. He settles into stride with them, following the twins as they go off to find whatever to eat. Tsukasa himself isn’t hungry-he can’t shake the feeling that something bad is about to happen, but he doesn’t mind being around food if he gets to leave the awkward tension at the Knights table for a couple minutes.

“Are you feeling better, Yuuta-kun? You do look a bit happier.” Tsukasa tilts his head in confusion at the twin’s slightly hurt face, before realizing they maybe he shouldn’t have mentioned the subject. “I’m sorry, I should not have mentioned…” he drops off, about to say the first syllable of Shinobu’s name when he realizes that that will not help his case.

“Don’t worry about it.” Yuuta’s voice is a bit harsh, but he forces a smile on his face. Tsukasa notices that one of his hands, the right one, is in his pocket-that must be where he’s keeping the star. Not wanting to make matters worse, Tsukasa decides that he’ll let the twins to the talking for now-they’re probably a little more sensitive about Shinobu’s death than he is.

They’re standing in the kitchen, in the middle of a small conversation about the storm the other day while food cooks, when there’s a scream and crash from the other room. Fearing the worst, Tsukasa turns on his heel and makes a beeline for the door, heart rising into his throat. When he gets to the door, he can feel the twins nearly collide with his back, instead trying to look around him to see what’s going on.

There’s an overturned chair in at one of the tables in the room, and Arashi is standing next to the chair. Sitting on the floor, looking a bit shocked, is Mika. Tsukasa’s eyes follow up to the table and, well, he didn’t expect anything else, but there’s Mademoiselle, standing on the table and looking down at the boy on the floor, probably in amusement. Shu and Arashi manage to pull the slightly stunned Mika off of the floor, and Tsukasa walks out of the kitchen leaving the twins to make sure their food doesn’t burn. It’s not like he really knows how to cook, anyways.

“If I could have your attention, please.” The robotic voice sounds a bit angry, staring directly at Mika, who shrinks back a little.

“Thank you all for the show the other day. It was...quite entertaining, if I do say so myself.” Tsukasa feels his stomach churn at how amused she seems to be. Then again, it’s disturbing to see a doll showing any emotion, towards anything. 

“I would like you all to meet in the room where you woke up, at 9:30 am. You all know what to do, correct? As usual, failure to comply will result in...punishment.”

 

Just like last time, 9:30 comes, and everyone finds themselves in the room where they originally woke up, whether they wanted to be there or not. Mademoiselle comes in, elegant as ever, at 9:30 exactly, looks around the room, and smiles, before she closes the door loudly and locks it shut.

This time, one of the walls and a small portion of the floor in the room suddenly spins, revealing another wall that looks almost the same, but has a large black box on the floor. Mademoiselle walks over to the box silently, and unlocks the large silver padlock on the front with a click. The chains that were holding the lock fall to the ground loudly, and Mademoiselle somehow pushed open the rather heavy looking lid on the box.

“Come up, don’t be shy! This is for you all!” Her voice takes on a sudden childishness, and the doll clears her throat awkwardly into the silence that follows. First she was angry, now she’s a child? What is going on with this doll? It’s probably a programming glitch.

Tsukasa is standing towards the back of the room, but he can tell by the murmur that’s beginning to spread that whatever is in this box is bad news. When the first year eventually gets to the front of the room, he sees that the inside of the box is broken into several different compartments, some much larger than others. Each one has a small nameplate on it, and in the few compartments that aren’t empty yet, there’s a black drawstring bag.

Tsukasa reaches into his own compartment, which is small, and pulls out the bag gently, as if it will explode should he even hold it wrong. The bag itself is oddly smooth, made out of a silky material that threatens to slip through his hold. The strings have the same texture as well, and Tsukasa holds onto the bag tightly as he begins to open the bag.

Inside is a gun, of all things. It seems that everyone has gotten a weapon. Taking a glance around the room, Tori is holding a vial of some sort, and Eichi has a gun that doesn’t look much different than Tsukasa’s. That all is only mildly concerning to him, but when he sees Keito, captain of his own archery club, with a large bow and lethal-looking arrows, the redhead nearly passes out on the floor.

“Thank you for your time. That is all for today, unless one of you is a little too excited to use your new weapon.” Calm and collected again, it seems, as the blonde doll leaves, everyone else still standing awkwardly in their spots in the room.

“We’re putting these weapons in the Student Council Room.” Eichi speaks almost immediately, before the commotion that threatens to spill can happen. Keito turns to Eichi, looking a little alarmed and confused, saying something softly to the blonde, who laughs in response.

“If all of the weapons are together, then we will be able to tell if one is missing simply by counting them. There is no easier way to ensure everyone’s safety for the time being.” There’s an unspoken agreement among the remaining people that Mademoiselle will probably go to extreme lengths to watch them kill each other, considering that they’ve all already been gassed and put in mortal danger at least once. There’s no reason it won’t happen again.

It seems that no one has found a flaw in Eichi’s logic, and soon enough, every weapon is laid out neatly in the Student Council Room, as best as they can be put in plain sight, so it will be easy to count the number there should the need be. There’s something relaxing about setting the gun down-Tsukasa felt like it was making his hands dirty, even though it was probably cleaner than most things in this school.

Once the doors are securely locked, and everyone is out of the room, Tsukasa feels an immense sense of relief. Sure, the weapons still exist, but they’re locked away and no one will be able to reach them in the near future. With that settled, he goes to seek out the twins, maybe he’ll find a way to apologize for indirectly bringing up Shinobu this morning.

He checks most of the campus, but can’t find the familiar bright-haired boys anywhere. As a last resort, he decides to go to their rooms, to check and try to find them. Hinata’s is closer to the entrance of the dorm building, so he checks that one, knocking on the door, before remembering that they’re probably soundproof. He rings the doorbell instead, and then stands and waits for a few minutes.

After probably about three minutes pass, he heads to Yuuta’s room, a few doors down. As far as he can tell, it seems that the rooms are arranged by class and year, so it’s fairly easy to find the room if you know what class someone is in. He rings the doorbell for Yuuta’s room, and then waits patiently. A few moments later, Yuuta comes to the door, looking relieved, and bursting into laughter. He can hear Hinata laughing from inside the room, and Tsukasa wonders briefly what he’s getting himself into before Yuuta shoves him in the room and promptly shuts the door.

When he takes a step further into the room, Tsukasa is confused, to say the least, when he sees that Hinata is sitting on a coffin, of all things. The dark wood is more than slightly out of place in the otherwise brightly colored room, and Tsukasa is sure he’s making quite the face when he carefully asks,

“Why do you have a coffin?”

“It’s Sakuma-senpai’s!” Hinata responds excitedly, standing up.

“Wh-why does Sakuma-senpai have a coffin? And, I repeat, why is it in your room?”

“To sleep in, of course!” Tsukasa is pretty sure that whatever is going on here is something he doesn’t feel the need to be involved in. “We figured it would be fun to try to steal the coffin, and then see what he does! It would be really funny if he blames Oogami-senpai.” Yuuta adds onto his brothers words like this is the most normal thing in the world.

“You really should not be stirring up trouble now, not when there are weapons around..” Tsukasa is sure that the twins wouldn’t do something to endanger themselves, not after Shinobu, but there’s a time for stealing objects that are potentially important to people, and the middle of some sick murder game is not one of those times. Definitely not.

“Sakuma-senpai wouldn’t hurt one of us! He practically treats us as family, after all.” Yuuta smiles, sitting down on the coffin’s lid, and Hinata sits down next to him, leaving Tsukasa standing and staring at the slightly odd scene in front of him.

“If you insist..but how did you bring the coffin to your room?” Tsukasa isn’t sure he wants to know, but he has a feeling he’s going to be involved in eventually moving this coffin back into Rei’s room, so he might want to know how to move it.

“We brought the bottom in first, and then the lid! It was heavy, but the two of us managed to do it.” 

“I mean, how did you get into Sakuma-senpai’s room?”

“He let us in! We were talking earlier, and then he said he wondered if there was something still in the Light Music Club Room, and left. When we brought down the bottom, we used the lid to keep the door from closing, and now we’ve got a coffin in our room. Pretty neat, right?” The younger twin lays back on the coffin dramatically after he speaks, staring up at the ceiling. “Besides, if he needs the coffin that badly, he’ll find it. Sakuma-senpai isn’t stupid, just a bit..quirky.” Tsukasa can tell the younger twin is choosing his words carefully.

And so, they wait for Rei to show up, looking for his coffin.

And they wait.

And they wait some more.

It’s almost 8 pm, they’ve been talking for hours, and Tsukasa feels like he’s almost fully forgotten what reality currently is...until his stomach lets out the most horrible noise, and the twins collapse in fits of laughter while Tsukasa turns the same color as his hair. He hasn’t really eaten all day, now that he thinks about it.

After a short dinner, in which the twins nearly succeed in making Tsukasa have some food come out of his nose or mouth every time he tries to eat a damn bite, they head back to Yuuta’s room: and that’s when they realize something’s wrong. Rei still hasn’t shown back up. They go to his room, try the doorbell a few times, and they they try every other Undead member, and then the other Oddballs. Hell, they even go to Ritsu’s room, although the only reason he probably talked to them for longer than two seconds after they mentioned Rei was because him and Tsukasa were on somewhat friendly terms, being in the same unit and all.

Unfortunately, the clock is ticking closer and closer to ‘nighttime’ every second, and the boys have seemingly run out of time. The only reason the twins haven’t panicked yet is because there’s been no announcements, no changes made to the rulebook, no indication that anything is wrong whatsoever, and so all they can do is wait.

“I guess we’ll tell you if anything happens.” The twins stand in the doorway to Tsukasa’s room. Tsukasa nods, holding back a yawn with little success

“I will do the same. Good luck.” He doesn’t realize how cryptic the words sound until they’re out of his mouth, the door has been closed, and he’s nearly asleep in his bed.

Well, hopefully nothing too bad happened.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks for reading! i can't promise a new update too soon-between pirate rei on cn, the hokke on regular enstars, and then the maki/umi event on eng. love live (i s2g if there's a mari or riko or yohane event on jp i will die). so i'm suffering a lot.  
> also i'm going on vacation in a few days but i'll probably write while i'm away lol
> 
> thanks for sticking with me this far!  
> twitter @squirrellissa


	12. 2-4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “We need to go. Someone got into the Student Council Room.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi i'm here and ready to kill people  
> fun fact while writing this chapter i set 'nzauna' to automatically change to 'nazuna' because i kept spelling it that way  
> hope you enjoy and i'm sorry in advance

Well, it seems that Rei got pretty lucky.

At least, Yuuta thinks so. The next morning, the third year is there at breakfast, alive and looking generally unharmed, just exhausted. The first year finds himself immensely relieved-if he was even partially responsible for another death so soon, he might go insane. The twins contemplate whether or not they should tell him about the coffin-it probably is one of his belongings after all, so they might as well return it.

In the end, they settle for leaving breakfast early, and returning the coffin to its owner’s room before anyone else can see them. Or, they would, but the door to Rei’s room is very clearly locked. Even after shaking the doorknob as much as possible, the door doesn’t so much as budge. And that’s how Rei finds out where his coffin disappeared too, when he comes back to his room only to find two boys trying to get into his room, the coffin closed and on the floor next to them.

“So this is where my coffin disappeared to?” Yuuta jumps at the sound of his voice, turning and standing in front of the coffin, like that will do anything to keep it hidden. Some small part of his brain insists on saying no, just to be difficult, but the stupid smile on his face falters after a second. To anyone with even a semi-functioning brain, it would be pretty damn easy to tell what’s going on here. At least, that’s what Yuuta thinks.

Looking around, he realizes Hinata is nowhere.to be seen- of course, because Yuuta is the one who normally gets in trouble for their actions, anyways. He sighs, realizing that his brother has set him up again, even if it was unintentional. Even though he loves Hinata, it’s really quite annoying when this happens.

“Sorry, Sakuma-senpai. Aniki and I were just playing a joke, we didn’t mean any harm. We’re sorry if we put you in any danger.” Yuuta knows how he is, and he knows that Rei probably won’t sleep unless he has his coffin. Since the coffin wasn’t in his room, and sleeping is prohibited outside of dorm rooms, that means that Rei probably hasn’t slept much in the past twenty-four hours.  
He kicks at the ground absentmindedly, feeling a strange, stiff awkwardness hovering around him. Even though the boy means what he says when he says he (and his brother) didn’t mean any harm, he knows the difference between a little joke and something a bit more serious, which is what he feels that particular instance falls into. It’s not like he stole something small, he stole a fucking coffin-a very heavy coffin at that. After a couple moments of silence, Yuuta feels a hand on his shoulder, and looks up, a bit confused. Surely, Rei must be at least a little bit angry with him? 

“Did you really think I was in danger? I am a creature of night, after all. It wasn’t hard for me to stay out of sight.” Yuuta thinks on that for a moment, feeling as if it’s just part of Rei’s usual quirks. On top of that, he’s a bit annoyed-he spent a good amount of the past night worrying for the wellbeing of someone else, whether or not he had caused their death, only to find out that they were perfectly fine to begin with. However, that thought is replaced when Yuuta notices something about what Rei had just said-more specifically, how he had phrased something..

“Out of sight? Was there someone out there last night?” Surely, he meant ‘stay safe’, not ‘stay out of sight’, right? That would mean that someone was out, prowling around at night, and that clearly didn’t end well last time it happened. Rei takes his hand off Yuuta’s shoulder, stepping back a little bit, and nods.

“There was someone, but I only happened to hear them. They were saying something about looking for a key, if I remember correctly, most likely to the Student Council Room. I don’t know who it was, though, I apologize.” Yuuta’s a little taken aback but how calm Rei sounds-he’d probably be a little more worked up if he’d been alone at night and heard an unknown person talking. Then again, he thinks, Rei doesn’t normally lose his composure often, even when Koga’s yelling enough to make everyone in the room go deaf.

“Does that mean someone is planning a murder?” Yuuta feels tense again-the first thing he’s doing is going to check the Student Council Room after this conversation. He feels like they can’t afford to take risks any more, not after two people have died. The last thing he wants is to go through this whole murder/trial mess again. Unfortunately, Rei doesn’t have an answer for him-just a fleeting, cryptic smile, before the third year steps around Yuuta to unlock his door.

“Well, thank you for returning to me, Yuuta-kun. I’m sure I will be seeing you soon.” Yuuta’s heart nearly stops-what does that mean? Did Rei find a body? Did he...no, he wouldn’t kill someone, right? Then again, Yuuta never thought Shinobu would kill someone, and look where that’s gotten him. Ignoring the voice in his head telling him to find his brother first, Yuuta heads towards the Student Council Room. That’s the more pressing matter here.

 

On the other hand, for Ra*bits, it’s been a pretty calm day. The four have been sticking together, for the most part, because safety in numbers, right? After a day of storms, the world looks much more alive, and the sun is shining brightly, prompting them to take lunch outside. 

They sit on the stone fountain, enjoying the nice weather, almost able to forget about the threat of death that just so happens to be hanging over everyone’s heads.

“You don’t think anyone will break into the Student Council Room, right?” The question stops Nazuna, who’s in the middle of eating. He turns his head to looks at Tomoya, who’s sitting with his knees drawn up, looking a bit anxious.

“No, I don’t think so? Did you hear something?” It’s a little disturbing to the blonde that Tomoya would as such a serious question so spontaneously. He hopes that nothing’s going to happen-for now, everyone is at peace, so why would there be any reason to stir up trouble by even making someone think that there’s going to be another murder?

“No, I just...got a little paranoid, I guess.” Nazuna isn’t entirely sure he believes the younger boy, but for now, he has no choice but to so. As much as he hates to think that way, if someone is planning a murder, then getting too involved might only bring danger to Nazuna, or to Ra*bits as a whole. He’s heard Eichi talking about his unit before, and he knows that they don’t exactly come off as imposing or threatening in any way, shape, or form.

A couple minutes later, Hajime brings something over to the two of them. He says that he found some new kind of tea that he hadn’t heard of before in the kitchen, and it’s really good, so he wants everyone to try it. Happy to see Hajime so happy, Nazuna takes the cup the small boy is holding into his own hands. The liquid inside is still steaming, and Nazuna momentarily wonders how Hajime does that-it seems like everytime he makes tea, it never gets even remotely cool.

Nazuna takes a sip, resisting the urge to down the entire cup because Hajime isn’t lying when he says it’s really good, and then passes it to Tomoya. After he takes a drink, the boy stares down at the cup for a moment, eyes wide, before saying something to Hajime about how he should start hoarding this stuff, because it’s really good.

Mitsuru comes over then-apparently he was running, because that boy has a somewhat limitless supply of energy or something-and sits down, asking Tomoya what he’s got. Tomoya hands the cup over to him, letting Hajime explain what it is instead since he probably knows better, and watches as Mitsuru has almost the same reaction that Tomoya did. The lock on Mitsuru’s face is funny, in an endearing kind of way, when he hands the cup back to Hajime, who sits down on the fountain and places the glass next to him carefully.

He starts talking about the different types of tea he’s found in the kitchen-some he’d heard Eichi talking about, and some that he’d never even heard of, and some that he has at his house. It’s funny to watch him blabber on, in a way, because Hajime doesn’t normally talk- he’s much too shy for that, so it’s nice to see he’s found people he’s comfortable enough to talk with.

It’s especially comforting to Nazuna, who had the boy all but cry himself to sleep on his chest the other day. Something about seeing his smile now almost reassures Nazuna that there’s hope that everyone else will make it out okay. There are still thirty people left after all, which is the vast majority of the people who were brought here in the first place.

 

Up in the hallway in front of the Student Council Room, Yuuta is panicking, big time.He’d gone up to check, because there was a sneaking suspicion in the back of his mind that someone was going to break in and -lo and behold-the doors were flung wide open. The first year didn’t stop to look in, or to see if there was anyone inside the room, or anything noticeably different. Instead, he ran.

He was almost back to the dormitory building, en route to find Hinata and tell him to stay in his room, because the doors to the Student Council Room had been opened, when he (quite literally) almost ran into him. Stopping short enough to not collide, he looked to see his brother, along with Adonis, of all people.

“Aniki? Otogari-senpai?” Is something wrong? He noticed the panicked looks on both of their faces, and the both nodded.

“I’ve been looking for Kanzaki all morning. I have to ask him something, but I don’t know where he went.”

“I’ve been looking for you! Yuuta-kun, where did you go?”

Yuuta’s heart nearly stops when Adonis says that Souma’s nowhere to be seen. Yes, it is a fairly large campus to be looking for one person, but Adonis is tall, and a fast runner. Surely, he wouldn’t have too much trouble tracking a person down.

“We need to go. Someone got into the Student Council Room.” The words are barely out of his mouth when, from somewhere in the distance, probably behind the school, there’s a loud, sharp sound, almost like...a gunshot. All three of them tense, immediately ducking down, until they realize what’s going on.

“Yuuta-kun, Otogari-senpai...was that what I think it was?”

 

From the fountain, much closer to the school, there’s no way that Ra*bits doesn’t hear the noise. Nazuna sits up immediately, looking around for any signs of someone injured or someone with a weapon, before standing up.

“You all stay here. I’m gonna go see what that was.”

He takes off in the direction of the sound, before anyone can stop him. He’ll probably just see that it was a tree branch breaking, and then come right back, anyways. It did just storm, surely some of the trees were damaged.

However, when a couple minutes, or what feels like a whole lot more, passes, the rest of Ra*bits decide that they’re going to split up and find Nazuna. Mitsuru heads off towards the dormitory building, Hajime goes into the school building, and Tomoya heads for the back of the school.

It’s then that Nazuna returns to the fountain. He’d seen something, alright, but now his underclassmen are missing and that’s an even bigger problem. He’s about to start looking for them, when he hears his name being called.

“Nito-senpai!” It’s one of the twins, the one with the pink headphones. Him, the other twin, and Adonis are all running towards him, looking equally as panicked as he feels.

“Did you hear that noise?” Nazuna nods yes, frantically.

“Yea, I’m looking for the rest of my unit.” He feels his heart pounding in his chest, when suddenly, there’s a decidedly high-pitched scream, and another loud noise. The blonde flinches, shrinking away from the noise-his ears are still ringing from the last one. Then, his heart beat only doubles, because he has no idea where his unit is, and all he knows is that that noise came from the back of the school, where there’s..yeah.

Instead of telling the others where to go (he doesn’t exactly trust his voice at the moment), the blonde just moves instead, hurrying towards the back of the school. If they hurry, maybe everything will be alright. Everything has to be alright, he tells himself. Given the circumstances, it’s a bit of an irrational thing to be trying so hard to convince himself of, but it’s almost like self-preservation at this point.

When the group gets to the back of the school, Nazuna is greeted with the same unpleasant sight that he had found there, after the first noise: Souma Kanzaki, dead on the ground with a single bullet wound on the center of his forehead, an expression that could only be described as astonished on his face.

Now, however, there was another body there. They were face down, but it was easy enough for Nazuna to tell who they were anyways. His heart immediately went from a mile and minute to nearly still, swaying on the spot as his body tried to adjust and nearly falling into Adonis, standing just behind him.

Even though his mind was telling Nazuna no, the facts, the real-life mess laying before him, told him exactly what he didn’t need to hear. Face down, with a bullet hole in his back, adding to the growing pile of blood covering the ground-there was only one person who it could be.

Tomoya Mashiro.

SURVIVORS: Hokuto, Mao, Makoto, Rei, Koga, Kaoru, Adonis, Mika, Shu, Hinata, Yuuta, Izumi, Arashi, Ritsu, Tsukasa, Chiaki, Kanata, Midori, Tetora, Keito, Kuro, Nazuna, Mitsuru, Hajime, Eichi, Yuzuru, Wataru, and Tori.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (i'm still sorry)  
> (i said before that i hated this chapter and the worst is yet to come for me)  
> i'm also sorry to that one person who asked me the other day to not kill souma or kanata. i cried a little reading that comment bc then i had to lie and i knew souma was gonna die and now i just feel guilty...oops
> 
> even though more people are dead, hope you enjoyed! (wow never thought i'd say that)
> 
> twitter @squirrellissa


	13. 2-5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He really can’t believe they’re doing this. Again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this thing is like 9 1/2 pages on google drive  
> it's all i've done today  
> my hands are going to die  
> sorry it took so long  
> here's the full investigation! couldn't figure out a good place to break the chapter so i just decided to write the whole thing instead of doing halves. the trial will still be two parts though, because this trial hurts my head and my soul

There it was again, the loud buzzing sound that signalled an announcement. In her room, Arashi felt the sound bring a strange, painful sort of nostalgia, her heart rate increasing a little bit as she stood up. That sound doesn’t associate with anything good in her brain-last time, it was the predecessor to finding others dead, and the strangely cruel trials that followed.

“Attention students. A body has been located. The investigation period begins now.” Cringing at the loud bell that rang at the end of the announcement, Arashi closes the door to her room. People are starting to exit their rooms, looking around at each other in disbelief that this happened again. However, before Arashi gets much further, the bell rings for a third time. By this point, her ears are ringing just from hearing the bell three times, but that’s not the biggest problem at the moment.

“Attention students. A body has been located. The investigation period begins now.” Wait, didn’t that announcement just go off?” A sense of fear, or something of the like settles down Arashi’s spine, pricking at her nerves. She can hear people beginning to talk, wondering if it was a technical error, or if two bodies were actually found. She hopes it’s the former, but is expecting the latter.

The school grounds are a blur, pushed out of her mind, the scenery replaced by speculations-who is dead? Who killed them? She hopes it’s no one from Knights-seeing how the last trial had affected Trickstar, Ryuseitai, and those close to the deceased is enough for her to feel that way. It only takes a couple minutes for the blonde to reach the fountain, where she sees the twins standing.

“Narukami-senpai!” One of them waves to her, and the blonde slows to a stop in front of the two younger boys.

“They-they’re back there. We’re staying out front to tell everyone where the bodies are.” The other one points towards the back of the school, and Arashi nods, giving them thanks before turning and heading through the school. From the first floor, she can easily get around back. However, once she reaches the back door, a slam from somewhere above her distracts Arashi. It sounded far off, and she can’t hear footsteps, but the noise was definitely there. While the thought of seeing if anyone is there, and potentially catching the killer single-handedly is appealing, Arashi is defenseless. Not that she considers herself weak, but if the killer just killed what seems like two people, they probably wouldn’t hesitate to at least try taking down another.

When Arashi steps outside, she takes a moments to look around. Off to her left, there’s bloody, red mess that confirms her fears-there’s not way that much blood could possible come from just one person. However, she notices something else rather abnormal on the ground-there are footprints heading into the school, coming from the crime scene. They’re actually,literal footprints too-from bare feet, not from any kind of shoe. That means the culprit planned this far enough in advance to hide their shoes, as to keep them clean.

There’s no footprints leading outside, though, and even though she hadn’t been looking for them then, Arashi is almost certain there weren’t any leading away and outside of the school. The twins would have seen the person, in which case, they might be standing over the bodies outside over to her left. Attention refocused, the blonde makes a beeline for the scene, keeping her eye on the footprints. As she gets closer to the bodies, she notices that the footprints are starting to look more and more red, until they’re more akin to bloody splatters on the ground than actual footprints.

When Arashi gets there, she realizes that some people must have come over while she was looking at the footprints- they probably went around the side of the school as well, because she didn’t hear or see someone walking past her. Standing over the two bodies is Nazuna, Hajime, Mitsuru, and Adonis, and Arashi feels her pulse thud as the looks down to see who was killed.

Her eyes fall on Souma’s body first, and then Tomoya’s. First comes the wave of relief when she realizes that everyone in Knights is still safe, and then comes the guilt of thinking that way, because everyone else standing here was close to at least one of the victims in one way or another. Almost immediately, she feels like she’s intruding, like she shouldn’t be here-but at the same time, there’s no other way to protect herself if she doesn’t swallow the lump in her throat and at least try to figure out what happened.

“Do you...do you know who died first?” She speaks quietly, like she’s worried about disturbing something. It’s almost like speaking to a brick wall for a moment-no one responds, the silence in the air hanging heavy for a few seconds before another voice cuts the tension slightly.

“It was Kanzaki.” Arashi looks up at Adonis,unsurprised by the hurt on his face. “Nito-senpai told me.” He gestures to the smaller blonde, who gives a small nod in response. All three of the Ra*bits members look a lot more than a little upset-not that Arashi can blame them, however. She takes a couple steps towards the first years, when Nazuna says something about going to clear his head and leaves the scene. She wants to say something kind, to apologize for what’s happened, but no words come to her that don’t feel selfish.

She rocks back on her heels a couple times, looking down without trying to seem imposing, before, she leans down a little, pulling the smaller boys in towards her. It takes a bit of balance not to fall, but Arashi’s used to dealing with situations like this when Mika’s upset-over much trivial things, but it’s still taught her a thing or two. She remains like that, feeling her shoulders grow damp with tears, until a small thank you in front of her diverts the blonde’s attention.

Nazuna is standing there, and Arashi sees other people beginning to come around to this side of the school. She straightens up, giving one last concerned look to the three others, before turning to face Adonis.

“I’m going to investigate inside, I heard something when I walked through on my way here. Do you want to come with me?” She sees Adonis’s eyes move back in forth, looking over her as if he’s suspicious, then back to Souma’s body,then back up at her. He does it a couple more times before nodding, and turning to face the school.

“Careful, don’t step on the footprints. Can I take a picture on this thing?” Arashi stops, pulling the ID out of her pocket, and tapping the screen until it comes to life. She scrolls through the menus on the bottom, and finds the camera on the map page, of all pages. There’s a small, blinking camera symbol on the bottom of the page that she could have sworn wasn’t there, and the blonde taps it. The screen changes, showing the footprints below her, and a small circle at the bottom.

It’s a bit tricky to photograph something on the ground like this, she thinks, trying to position the camera in a way that will capture the footprints enough to tell that some are bloodier than others, while trying not to back away so much that they aren’t visible. After she gets the right angle, she takes a few pictures and tucks the ID into her back pocket, making sure that it’s not going to fall. It sure would be tragic if she lost the ID now, of all times.

When she gets to the school’s back entrance, the door is closed-weird, Arashi as almost certain it didn’t close behind her, meaning someone else came and closed it, perhaps whoever was upstairs? Wordlessly, the blonde turns, leading Adonis up the stairs until she gets to the top floor. The noise she heard had sounded pretty far away, so the top floor is probably her best bet for now. When she gets to the top of the stairs, Arashi turns, figuring she at least owes Adonis a better explanation.

“I thought I should come up here first, because I heard some crashes. I just didn’t go earlier-it was probably the culprit, and I’m really not in the mood to die.” She cracks a small smile, trying to lighten the mood, but Adonis just nods, silent as ever.

“We should check the Student Council Room first, probably. We can see if anything is missing.” Arashi heads towards the room, remembering where it was from the last time this happened-strange, that there’s been two murders, and this room has been involved in both of them. The door is slightly ajar, and swings open most of the way, until it collides with something on the other side.

Arashi practically leaps into the room, grabbing a knife off of one of the tables and spinning to see what’s behind the door. Her brain is frantically screaming, trying to tell her that it’s the killer, and that this is her chance to make everything easier for everyone else. However, all that she see is-a desk lying on its side? Well, at least that explains the crashes she heard earlier. The blonde sets the knife down behind her, then attempts to pull the desk back to a standing position.

When Adonis steps into the room, a little startled and confused by Arashi’s sudden reaction after opening the door, he can’t help but hold back a laugh at the sight of Arashi struggling to pull a desk to an upright position. The blonde stands up, brushing back a slightly stray piece of hair, and turns to the taller boy, who speaks first.

“Do you need help with that?” Arashi laughs, nodding her head yes and cracking her knuckles.

“It’s actually pretty heavy. I wonder what’s in it. She hits the desk where the bottom of a drawer would be, and it makes a dull, decidedly not hollow sound. “Hopefully it’s a clue.” Arashi takes a couple steps to the side, giving Adonis room to help her pull the desk up.

When the desk is up, Arashi wastes no time in pulling one of the desk drawers, the largest one, open. True to her suspicions, there’s something inside-a bloody uniform. It’s a little bit on the smaller side, but Arashi’s main concern is whose it could be. It’s true that each room seemed to come with multiple, clean copies of their uniforms, which was a bit...odd, but seeing as they hadn’t found anywhere to wash clothes yet, it wasn’t a bad thing.

‘This killer is pretty smart,’ Arashi tells herself, gently looking at the tags on the clothes for any sign of a name. ‘They kept everything to one area, it seems-their uniform, and their weapon, at least.’

“There’s no name on the uniform, but it’s on the smaller side,” she announces, standing up. “We should check the other rooms in the hallway, maybe we’ll find a clue.” Arashi takes the knife she’d grabbed initially, intending to put it back on the desk she had originally. After doing that, she carefully stepped back to the desk, leaning over the wooden surface to take a picture of clothes, before putting it in her front pocket.

 

While Arashi and Adonis had been accounted for, outside, there were still three people missing. As Mao looks around the scene, he still can’t find Eichi, Keito, and Ritsu. Ritsu was no surprise-knowing him, he was sleeping. However, Eichi and Keito were a bit stranger-surely, they would want to be in on everything, right? While there isn’t anything he can do to find Eichi and Keito unless he could comes across them, he might be able to get Ritsu out of his room. Maybe he’d bring him food, too-knowing Ritsu, he hasn’t eaten all day.

Thinking that that’s a good idea, and maybe he’ll find a clue or two along the way, Mao begins to exit, however, he’s stopped by a voice behind him.

“Isara-senpai?” Mao turns around to see Tsukasa coming towards him. “Where are you going?” There’s a slightly suspicious tone to Tsukasa’s voice, although Mao can see why he might be suspicious. Mao is a member of the Student Council, which means he might be more likely to get into the room, and now he’s trying to leave the scene.

“I think I’m going to go bring some food to Ritsu and see if I can get him out of his room.” That doesn’t sound suspicious, right?

“May I accompany you? I’d like to look for clues around the campus as well.” Mao nods, stopping to wait for the younger boy to catch up to him.

“It’s probably not a bad idea to partner up, considering we don’t know who the killer is…as long as you don’t mind putting up with Ritsu when he’s just woken up, you can come.” Mao smiles a little, knowing that Ritsu can be a bit difficult when he doesn’t want to get up (which, granted, is most of the time). Even so, being a member of Knights, surely Tsukasa has some experience dealing with the same situation.

In about fifteen minutes, the two have found food for Ritsu, and are close to the entrance of the dormitory building, when Mademoiselle approaches them. Mao feels a slight chill going down his spine, holding the paper bag in his hands a little tighter. It’s a bit too big to be holding just food, but it was all the two could find in the kitchen.

“Hello, Mademoiselle. Is there a problem?” Mao tries to address the doll kindly, not wanting to trigger anything. Unsurprisingly, the blonde doll nods, standing next to Mao.

“It has come to my attention that you have violated a rule. Adequate punishment must be administered.” Mao takes a step back, his heart jumping into his throat. What rule did he break?

“Rule violation? When?”

“During the last investigation, you broke rule number two, by falling asleep in the hallway near the Student Council Room with Sakuma Ritsu.” The doll’s voice is calm and monotone, and Mao stops, remembering that. How could he have been so stupid? Now, some weird, creepy doll is probably going to-

His thoughts are interrupted by a sharp pain in his leg, and Mao’s eyes shoot down, a wave of exhaustion watching over him. He sees Mademoiselle pulling a syringe away from him, the object too large for her small hands.

Tsukasa sees Mao swaying on his feet, running to catch the red-haired boy who suddenly falls backwards, eyes closed. The paper bag drops neatly to the ground, although Tsukasa can’t reach it without dropping Mao, who is clearly unconscious.

“What did you do to Isara-senpai?” Tsukasa looks down at Mademoiselle, who is still holding the syringe.

“I merely put him to sleep, do not worry. He should awaken by the start of the trial.” The doll gives a small nod before entering the cafeteria, leaving Tsukasa with the unconscious Mao.

After checking his rulebook again, Tsukasa decides to bring Mao to the infirmary-he can’t get into Mao’s room without the card, and the thought of doing a full body search on his upperclassman makes the first year a little bit uncomfortable. After finding a place for Mao, Tsukasa remembers that they were originally going to bring food to Ritsu, and try to wake him up. The bag from before is nowhere to be found, so Tsukasa makes another one, trying to remember what was in the first, and heads back to the dorm building.

When he enters the building, Tsukasa sees Keito and Eichi, the two people who had been missing from the crime scene. Keito is standing over Eichi, who’s sitting on the floor, and nodding in response to whatever Keito is saying.

“Suou, what are you doing here?” Tsukasa holds up the paper bag, then gestures towards where he thinks Ritsu’s room is-he doesn’t actually know.

“Isara-senpai and I were going to bring food to Sakuma-senpai, but Isara-senpai was ‘punished’ by Mademoiselle for sleeping.” Eichi stands up immediately at the first year’s words, nearly slamming the top of his head into Keito’s chin as he does so.

“Punished? You don’t mean to say he was killed?” Tsukasa shakes his head no.

“No, she simply knocked him out. Well, that is according to what she told me. Supposedly, he will wake up before the first trial begins.” Tsukasa begins to walk further down the hallway, stopping when he gets to Ritsu’s door. He knocks a couple times, and is almost surprised when the door swings open almost immediately.

“Ritsu-kun, why aren’t you asleep?” Mao realizes that Eichi is right-if Mademoiselle punished Mao by knocking him out, and Ritsu was also supposed to be punished, why isn’t he unconscious.

“Mademoiselle injected me with something weird as punishment, and now I caaaan’t,” Ritsu groans, leaning against the doorframe. Tsukasa notices that one of Ritsu’s hands is tapping restlessly against the doorframe- Mademoiselle must have given him something really strong for the normally lethargic boy to be this restless.

“Excuse me Sakuma-senpai, but Isara-senpai and I meant to bring food for you.” To Tsukasa’s surprise, the older boy grabs his wrist, pulling Tsukasa into the room and muttering something about how Tsukasa will stay there and listen to whatever Ritsu has to say. He seems frustrated, probably because he can’t sleep like he always is, and so Tsukasa goes along as to not anger Ritsu, leaving Keito and Eichi to resume their conversation.

 

“So, do you think whoever the culprit was blackmailed into committing their crimes?” Eichi stares at a spot on the wall at the end of the hallway, stained a faint red color that’s undeniably from washed away blood. That, and the note the note they found crumpled up at the end of the hallway, reading ‘You have 24 hours.’ In response, Keito nods.

“I cannot think of another conclusion.” He stares at the spot on the wall too, and Eichi takes the silence to scan his brain for anything he might have overheard-a strange conversation, or if someone was avoiding a friend or companion. Nothing comes to mind, and the blonde sighs.

“We should go to the scene of the murders. Maybe this information will be useful.”

The two take a small detour on the way there, after realizing that their ID’s have been updated with the victim files-two this time. The stop at the cafeteria, sitting down at a table and opening up the files.

Eichi reads the names of the victims before anything else, and he looks up at Keito in surprise, after reading Souma’s name. He felt pity more than anything else, and was sure that the other could tell, but he did feel slightly bad-Keito wasn’t the most emotional person, but it must be somewhat upsetting to lose a unit member nonetheless. He knew he’d probably be at least a little bit upset if anyone from fine turned up dead.

If Keito does notice the pity, he shakes it off, talking about something completely different.

“Their times of death are about five minutes apart...do you think the killer only intended to kill one person?” Eichi shrugs slightly-he hadn’t considered the possibility, and he didn’t hear Keito all too well-right now he’s ignoring the other third year to read the victim files closely. One was killed at 11:43 am, the other at 11:48. That means the trial should probably announced at 7:48. A quick look at the clock reveals the time to be 4:15-they’ve already used over half of their time, and they haven’t even visited the crime scene yet. Then again, that’s what they get, for deciding to look for clues instead of going straight to find the crime scene.

At least the investigations had gotten them a few clues-they had found a pair of rubber gloves inside the schools incinerator, which Eichi had figured out how to take a picture of-they couldn’t reach down and neither was willing to attempt to climb into the damn incinerator for such a small clue. It wasn’t like there was a way to test for fingerprints anyways, at the current moment.

Then, there had been the bloodstain on the wall, and the note they’d found. The note was crumpled, like it had been in someone’s pocket for too long, but the handwriting wasn’t anything either of the two recognized enough to frame someone, or even place suspicions. They’d also found something curious-a door-shaped indent on the wall near the entrance to the dorm building, which the duo had spent entirely too long trying to force open.

After a few more minutes of analyzing the small details, the two decided to head for the crime scene-it was most likely behind the school as that had been one of the few places the two hadn’t checked yet. However, before they even reached the scene, something else caught their eye-it was small, but there was a set of footprints that definitely didn’t align with the rest of the sets.

“Keito, do you see that? There are footprints coming from that entrance to the school.” Eichi gestures to the set on the ground that are coming from the door that’s on the right side of the school. They’re bare footprints too, Eichi notices, although they’re clean-no traces of blood or anything else on them.

The footprints go along the side of the school before meeting with a couple of pairs that are coming from the main entrance to the school, and quickly become indecipherable. 

When Eichi and Keito find the scene, they’re slightly surprised to see Ritsu and Tsukasa there-Ritsu looks strangely restless, and Tsukasa is staring at an object on the ground with a completely confused look on his face. 

After a moment, the third years realize that Ritsu is holding something in his hand-it’s a note, of all things. Silently coming up next to the black-haired boy, Eichi holds his hand out expectantly, waiting for Ritsu to notice him and give him the note. When he does, Eichi’s eyes scan the paper quickly-the note is mostly stained with blood, and it seems that Souma had the note, judging by where Ritsu is standing, at least. Even though the paper is red and soggy, it’s fairly easy to read words written in thick black marker- ‘Meet me behind the school at 11:45 tomorrow morning. We need to talk.’

Handing the note back to Ritsu and thanking him, Eichi turns to see what Tsukasa is so focused on, a little bit behind him. It’s something on the ground, but from where he’s standing, that’s about all Eichi can tell.

“Suou-kun, what are you looking at?” Tsukasa jumps back a little, before straightening up visibly and gesturing to the thing he was looking at. Eichi almost laughs-it’s kind of cute how hard Tsukasa tries to be perfect and composed around him.

Eichi crouches down on the ground to get a better look-there’s a gun, laying at the edge of one of the large puddles of half-dried blood.

“Suou-kun, is there something weird about this gun? It looks like a normal gun to me.” Eichi stands up with a small smile, his eyes not leaving the weapon.

“This gun...it was not originally at the crime scene.”

 

When Mao wakes up, he feels like he’s being blinded by something.

Blinking his eyes, he realizes there’s a sharp golden light that happens to fall right into his line of vision-it’s the setting sun. Still a bit dazed, the red-haired boy sits up, getting the sun out of his eyes and trying to figure out just what’s going on. It’s a bit fuzzy, but he remembers the word ‘punishment’, and a sharp pain in his leg. It’s not much to go off of, but maybe if he finds someone...whoever he was with, he’ll be able to figure out what happened.

The room is dyed a pink color, and Mao knows that it’s actually the sun setting, and not his eyes trying to adjust after being knocked unconscious for so long. His head aches a little bit, but there’s more important things-most important would be catching the killer, as of now. Again, he realizes that he’s going into the trial practically empty handed, and sighs-he’s going to have to rely on others to get his information again.

The clock on the wall tells him that it’s sometimes between 7:45 and 7:50-he can’t tell the time, but if the murders probably happened around noon, then that means there’s not a lot of time left until the trial starts. For now, his best bet is to get to the fountain and try to get a summary of the scene by the time Mademoiselle arrives.

The second Mao steps outside, he blinks the sun out of his eyes again, and moves to where he isn’t being blinded. People are already beginning to gather around the fountain, he notices-maybe the announcement was already made? The water in the fountain reflects a salmon color, which really does look pretty, but unfortunately all Mao can think about now when he looks at the fountain now is death.

He sighs, finding Hokuto and Makoto in the small group by the fountain, and immediately going to them. Surely they have some clues they can share with him.

By the time Mademoiselle arrives, it seems that Arashi and Adonis still aren’t there. Mao feels like he has a better grasp on the case, but he glad to let the other two Trickstar members explain to him while they wait for the last two people arrive. 

Just when someone suggests going to look for the two, they appear, running towards the fountain. When they get there, Arashi stops, breathing heavily, before looking up and scanning the crowd, her face visibly concerned.

“Has anyone seen my ID?”

Unfortunately, before she can get an answer, Mademoiselle shows up. Curling and uncurling his hands into fists, Mao stares up at the shrinking, multi-colored sky, marveling at how nice it looks before the darkness completely blocks out the scenery.

He really can’t believe they’re doing this. Again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks for reading!   
> i realize this is a (very) bad place to leave off, but i'm going on vacation in a couple of days and i'll be gone for a week  
> i don't know if i'll update-i'll try to write on my phone but no promises (i will have service though, lol)  
> so if i don't update by about 3 am on august 5th, don't expect another update until the 12th/13th, sorry!
> 
> anyone know who the killer is (i do)?  
> twitter @squirrellissa


	14. 2-6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Arashi can tell he’s scared, surely he knows what’s coming for him, but he’s trying to remain strong nonetheless.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello again! sorry this took so long, it would have been done earlier but i had to get a finger prick and i can't use my middle finger to type (i'm weak) which has been....inconvenient  
> ah yes, this trial  
> i don't like it  
> i happen to like the murderer a lot and i feel sorry for what i'm about to put them through  
> also why are the nicknames in this game so all over the place? i feel like half of my time writing is spent googling how one character refers to another, jfc.

The amount of light that floods the underground room is small at first, only a faint orangey glow. In the dim light, almost everything Arashi can make out sparkles, like she’s standing in a cave of diamonds. What a dream. The dim light is easy to adjust to from such total, encompassing darkness, but it's hard to not squint when the light flares up more, reflecting off of every surface in sight. 

Everything about the layout of the room is the same-the circle with the individual segments, and the tall stands in the place of the deceased. However, instead of cold, dark metal, everything is made of glimmering, colorless crystals, the walls painted a dark blue color which only emphasizes the shining lights even more. There are lights on the walls again, but this time, there is also a large chandelier that emerges from the darkness of the questionably high ceiling, made from the same crystals as the scenery of the room. 

Arashi takes her place in the circle, which is the same space she occupied before, and looks around to see three new portraits-Shinobu, Souma, and Tomoya. However, instead of the standard ‘X’ that crosses Subaru, Souma, and Tomoya’s faces, the mark on Shinobu appears to be something similar to a four-pointed star-just like the ninja stars he always used to carry. The sight makes her slightly uncomfortable, in a way she can't explain-it's probably because this display almost seems to be mocking the dead.

Once everyone's taken their places, Mademoiselle goes over the trial rules again-as if anyone would forget them. It’s almost eerie to think that when the group leaves this room again, they will be one less, but that's a thought for later. Right now is about self-preservation, and avenging the dead by catching the person who killed them. 

“We should probably figure out how many culprits there were first, as we had two victims.” Unsurprisingly, Mao is the first to speak-he’s probably got a bit of an ego boost after the last trial, and rightfully so-he did piece together most of the evidence, after all. Arashi goes over his words for a moment-she hadn't really considered the possibility of there being two culprits. Maybe one was a victim as well? Arashi considers the possibility for a moment, but it doesn’t line up with what she knows.

“I’m pretty sure there was one. There were bloody footprints leading from the bodies to the school, only one set.” Her hand goes to reach inside her pocket, where her ID would be-but comes up completely empty. It’s startling for a moment, before she remembers-she’d lost it before the trial. She briefly remembers setting it down sometime during the investigation, although she can’t remember why she would have done that-but when she went to get the card back, it was nowhere to be seen.

“Do you have proof?” Arashi knows she has two options: admit she doesn’t, or try to talk her way through the situation. While the blonde considers herself pretty good with words, not to be selfish or anything, she’s not sure she can convince a group of boys her age in the middle of a murder trial anything without definitive proof.

“Adonis-chan was with me.” it’s not what she necessarily meant to say, it might have been better to drop the subject. “We were the first ones to follow the footprints, I think.” Her eyes scan the circle, finding Adonis and trying to meet his eyes, asking for backup. Surely, he hasn’t forgotten.

“Narukami is correct.” Arashi lets out a breath she didn’t know she was holding in, letting her composure slip in place of relief for a slight moment before smiling and nodding.

“I had photos on my ID, but someone stole it.” She pauses for a moment-if the culprit has her ID it’ll only make them more suspicious, she thinks, so it’s highly unlikely that whoever has it will hand it over-it’s worth a shot though, right? “Does anyone happen to have my ID? Like, maybe you found it?” She’s sure she’s suspicious-after all, looking for an ID is a pretty good alibi for murder, right?

“Wait, Narukami-senpai, is this yours?” Arashi nearly makes herself dizzy, looking rapidly around the circle to find the source of the voice before her eyes settle on the twins. The one with the pink headphones (Hinata, right? She asks herself) is holding an ID card out in his hand. Moments later, the girl finds herself holding the ID, with one small problem-the screen is completely black.

“We know it’s on, it was making noises earlier…the screen just won’t react, so we couldn’t look at it.” Hinata shrugs, eyes focuses on the blonde’s hands. She traces each of the little buttons on the side-they’re not labelled, so she hasn’t really touched any of them yet. There are five buttons down one side, two pairs and a single button in different shapes Two are a circle, one is a square shape, the other two are small triangles. She tries the triangular buttons first, but to no avail. She presses the square button too, but that one also gives no results.

The bottom of the two circular buttons doesn’t do anything, but when she presses the other circular button, the screen changes. Although it’s still dark, shapes can very faintly be seen on the screen. Feeling a small bit of hope, the blonde holds down the same button, and the screen flares to life, growing bright and brighter every second. Staring down at the ID, which is her own, Arashi holds in a laugh before looking up, while absentmindedly trying to find the pictures she’d taken earlier.

“The brightness was all the way off, so I guess it must have looked dead. My bad, I guess?” She finds the pictures she’s been searching for, and holds the photo of the footprints up. The angle is a bit awkward, but it’s clear to see what’s on the screen-a single set of footprints, stained red on the left and fading to nothing on the right side of the screen.

“Can you see it?” Arashi waves the ID slightly in her hand, careful not to drop it. Unfortunately, the screen is probably about the size of a smartphone, so no, not everyone can see it.

“There’s three pictures on here,” she explains. “One of the footprints, one of a bloody uniform we found in a student council desk, and one we took of the student council room after we started investigating,” Arashi explains, passing the ID to her left so it can travel around the circle.  
Narukami, how big was this uniform? There isn’t enough perspective.” Trickstar, or what remains of it, at least, has her ID, and the one speaking is Hokuto. Of course, she thinks, a perfectionist like that would pick out such a small detail.

“It was smaller than me, that’s about all I know. There wasn’t a name on it.” Arashi looks around the room, at the top of each person’s head-she’s on the taller end of the spectrum, so that clue doesn’t help too much. It does eliminate a few people nonetheless, which is a bit of a relief.

“Narukami-kun, I don’t doubt your evidence. However, Keito and I were in the Student Council Room, presumably after you, and we saw no sign of this uniform.” Arashi tenses, even though she’s more curious than anything-did they miss the uniform, or did it disappear?

“Is that where you went after the gun appeared?” Tsukasa stops for a moment, before turning away from Eichi’s direction to face the circle. “Sakuma-senpai went to the crime scene at approximately four o’clock, and a gun that was not previously at the scene had appeared.” Apparently, this is news to most-including Arashi herself, if the whispering that flares up in the room is anything to go by.

“When did the last person leave the crime scene? I know I was one of the first to leave, I think around 2 pm?” Mao asks. Arashi wasn’t on the scene at the time, so can’t say for sure if she believes Mao, but no one calls him out and she finds it safe to assume he’s telling the truth. “If a piece of evidence showed up on the scene, and one disappeared from the Student Council Room when nobody was around, it might mean the killer was caught off guard.” The thought is rational-if the crime scene or evidence changed when no one was looking, it might have meant the killer was still trying to cover their tracks when the body was discovered.

“You might be right. I heard someone in the school when I was coming to the crime scene.” She pauses, going over the memory to make sure nothing decisive stands out in retrospect. “I couldn’t tell who it was, but I don’t think they left through the back door, since there weren’t any footsteps there when Adonis-chan and I left.”

“I got it! They must have gone out the door on the right side of the school!” Arashi looks to see Tetora, nearly leaping over the railing in front of him in excitement. His enthusiasm is comical, in a cute kind of way, but Arashi doesn’t remember seeing those footprints. Then again, she left through the front center entrance, where there were too many sets of footprints to determine a single set from another. “There were footprints coming from the right front entrance to the school. I think they went back and around the fountain,” he explains.

“Hakaze-senpai and I saw those” Koga responds. “Looked like the person was barefoot. Didn’t pay much attention, though, we were looking for that vampire bastard.” Koga shoots a glare at Rei from the corner of his eye, muttering something about ‘waste of my fucking time’, and goes to speak before he’s cut off.

“Doggie, you know I can’t stand the sun, be nice.”

“Shut up, vampire bastard!” Arashi sighs-their fighting needs to be saved for another time. 

“Keito and I saw those footprints as well.” Eichi clears his throat and speaks, effectively reducing the noise in the room back to zero. Koga’s eyes still look angry, but he keeps his mouth shut.

“They were barefoot, right?” Kaoru asks the other blonde, who nods.

“Yes, they were barefoot. I can only assume the killer left their shoes off, to not get them bloody.” There’s a brief pause of silence, before Mao speaks up.

“Well, I guess this means there was probably only one killer, right?” Arashi almost forgot-that was what they were trying to figure out earlier, wasn’t it? “Also, I was thinking on something I said a little while ago-the killer was caught off guard. Do you think this means the second victim walked in on the killer cleaning up their tracks?” The room falls silent again, before another person speaks up.

“It might be possible.” Nazuna, who still looks as sad as he did earlier, answers. “We split up after we heard the first shot, and Tomoya-chin went behind the school.” If nothing, that explains the look of shock on the young boy’s face-he’d not only seen a dead body, but the killer too, and had probably realized what was going to happen to him. Arashi cringes internally, that sounds like a god-awful last thought to have, but says nothing. Hajime and Mitsuru remain silent, shifting awkwardly on either side of Tomoya’s marker, confirming Nazuna’s words with silent nods.

“Does anyone have anything else?” Arashi asks. She didn’t spend as much time investigating as she would have liked to, most of her investigation period was spent looking for her ID, and she didn’t stop to talk to many people. She did come across Tsukasa, who said he was bringing food to Ritsu since Mao had been knocked out by Mademoiselle, but that was about it.

“Do we have a ‘motive’?” Kanata speaks for the first time, and Arashi feels a bit of pity again-they were in the same club, so surely they had some form of bond.

“Do you mean besides the weapons?” Kanata nods in response to Chiaki’s question, but the brunette doesn’t say anything else. It looks like he doesn’t know any other motive.

“Eichi and I found a few things.” Keito speaks, his hand reaching in his pocket, before pulling out two slightly crumples pieces of paper. He smooths them out a little bit before reading each one: the first one asking someone, presumably the killer, to meet them at the back end of the dormitory hallway. The other, which Keito says is done with much better handwriting, is asking Souma to meet them behind the school, asking for help with a problem.

Eichi takes the lead, explaining that the found things besides the notes. There was also a strange, off red smear on the back wall in the dormitory, where the presumed killer had been asked to meet whoever had written the note. It seemed like the smear was made out of blood. 

“Do you think whoever wrote the note is the person who locked us in the school?” Mao asks when Eichi is done speaking.

“It’s possible, although it doesn’t tell us who that person is.” Is Eichi’s response. Looking a bit disappointed, Mao nods, staying silent. If the notes and the blood don’t point to a motive, then nothing else will. However, this leads to one other problem-whoever locked them up is among the remaining students, and they’re not afraid to interfere to cause a killing.

“We have a motive, but there’s something I meant to ask before. Yuuta-chan, Hinata-chan, where did you two find my ID?” Arashi turns on the Id in her hand again, giving herself the unnecessary confirmation that it really is hers, before putting it back in her pocket.

“It was in between the dorm building and the cafeteria. Although Narukami-senpai, are you sure that ID really is yours?” Hinata looks a little suspicious, although Arashi is just confused-he saw the pictures on it, so wouldn’t he believe her? 

“I’m sure it’s mine, it has my name on the home screen. Why would you think otherwise?” The twins look at each other, the same confused look in both of their eyes, before Yuuta speaks up.

“Well, Tsukasa-kun told us that Mao was sleeping, so figured we’d try to wake him up. He didn’t say Isara-senpai had been knocked out by Mademoiselle,” he begins. “But he also told us where Isara-senpai got attacked, so we figured your ID was his and well...we used it to get into his room.” Arashi’s mind stops processing for a moment-her ID can unlock Mao’s room. However, before anyone can ask anything, Mademoiselle interrupts.

“Aww, it seems you’ve found out a little secret.” Her attitude and voice have changed again-this time, they’re a strange, mocking tone. “Anyone’s ID can unlock any room door. Every lock is identical, and so is every ID.”

 

It certainly takes the group a bit of time to adjust to that fact-the next few minutes are spent with everyone talking to their respective units, and theorizing. The biggest concern is that the rooms, which everyone thought could be locked, are no longer as safe as they once seemed. When the chatter begins to die down in favor of restarting the trial, Eichi is unsurprisingly, the first one to get a word in.

“I hate to make an accusation like this, but is it possible that Tsukasa was bringing food to a mastermind hiding in Ritsu’s room? I personally find it strange that Ritsu would be awake in the middle of the day.”

“Mademoiselle drugged me.” Ritsu complains, looking as tired as ever. Tsukasa nods, looking panicked.

“Sakuma-senpai is right! I was concerned that I had not seen him all day, and Isara-senpai asked me to bring him something before he was knocked unconscious.” His voice is strained and defensive, which makes an uncomfortable chill spiral in Arashi’s mind, but it seems logical that anyone would be a bit afraid after being accused of murder, or helping the ‘mastermind’ that locked everyone in here, as Eichi had referred to them as.

“Along the same train as finding things, it would do me well to mention that when we found the gun on the crime scene, it was completely clean. There were no traces of blood on it whatsoever.” Although it seems like a rather hasty way to change the topic, Tsukasa brings up a good point. Surely, the weapon would have gotten bloody, if the killer’s uniform got as dirty as it did, right?

“They probably cleaned the gun. It would be a good way to get rid of fingerprints as well,” Mao suggests, shrugging. Arashi’s about the ask what they would have cleaned the gun with, before she remembers something.

“Adonis-chan, do you still have the picture of the inside of the incinerator? From when we met there?” Arashi speaks quickly, feeling as if she may be onto something. The two had met at the incinerator, positioned behind the cafeteria, late in the investigation, while Arashi was looking for her ID. They had split up for a bit because Arashi didn’t want to interfere with Adonis’s investigation. The purple-haired male nods in response to her questions, turning on his ID and tapping the screen with a confused look before handing to to Koga, who is standing next to him. Arashi almost laughs, remembering how inept her friend is with technology, but her adrenaline is running too high to keep her from doing so.

“There is a pair of rubber gloves, and what looks like a bloody cloth.” Adonis says rather matter-of-factly, but there’s an unexpected response.

“Narukami, Otogari, when did you meet at the incinerator?” Keito asks immediately, and Arashi tries to remember what time. After they had gotten dinner, at about 6 pm, so it was not much before that when they saw each other.

“I’d say, about 5:50? Maybe a little bit earlier, I’m not exactly sure…” Keito turns to look at Eichi, who nods, before he speaks again. Whatever he’s thinking, it’s pretty obvious the blonde is as well.

“Eichi and I went to the incinerator at about 2:45. We saw the gloves, but not the cloth.” He pauses for a moment, appearing to be thinking about something, before continuing. “Do you think the fabric in there could be a cleaning cloth for glasses? Mine went missing sometime into the investigation. I went to my room to get it, and it was gone.” 

“Does that mean the killer went into your room using the ID’s?” Tsukasa looks almost horrified as he speaks, rather bluntly, although she found she was reaching the same conclusion. However, there was one thing bugging her, and that was Tsukasa himself. He seems to have been everywhere-he showed up at the crime scene fairly early, he was there when Mao was drugged, and he saw Eichi in the Keito in the hallway, then later met them at the investigation site. It pains her to think that Tsukasa, her unit-mate, could be responsible for two deaths, but there’s a sneaking suspicion in her mind.

“Ritsu, when did you get to the crime scene? You too, Tsukasa. You were there before us.” Keito speaks again, and Arashi briefly wonders if he’s onto the same path as her.

“I don’t know, but I got there first. Suu-chan said he was going to the bathroom. Then, we looked around the scene separately, and he pointed out the gun a few minutes later, right before Eicchan got there.” Ritsu yawns-apparently that was too much talking for him, or something, but his story makes Arashi uncomfortable. If someone were to go fast enough, the could probably clean a gun, hide what they used to clean it with, and get to the crime scene in a relatively short amount of time.

Arashi doesn’t want to accuse anyone, but it has to be done at some point. Right now, it feels like they’re just going in very confusing circles.

“Tsukasa-chan, I’m sorry, but did you kill Tomoya-chan and Souma-chan?” Arashi speaks unusually quietly, but the silence of the room lets her words be heard well enough.

“Why are you accusing me?” Tsukasa looks like a deer in the headlights, pale and shaking slightly, but Arashi can’t back off now. All of the clues she can think of are beginning to line up.

“You had a lot of...convenient excuses to be alone.” Keito takes the words out of Arashi’s mouth, and Arashi is glad-surely the third year can explain better than she can in her current confused state, and she really doesn’t want to be the one to uncover Tsukasa’s crimes if he is, indeed, the killer.

“You were with Mao when he fell asleep, and then later when you and Ritsu split up. That’s enough time to clean up a few loose piece of evidence, don’t you think?”

“It was not me.” Tsukasa’s hands are curled by his sides, his eyes clenched shut, and Arashi has to look away.

“Suou, do you have any proof that it wasn’t you who did this?” The room falls silent, all eyes trained on Tsukasa, before the red haired boy speaks.

“Whoever locked us in here...they forced me into this.” Tsukasa’s always been so uptight about his dignity and image, and Arashi can see that now-his eyes are shining, tinted red around the edges, but he isn’t yelling, and his voice is relatively steady.

“Does that mean it was you?”

Tsukasa looks away from the crowd, nodding slowly.

“They came up to me the other night in the hallway. I do not know who it was- I did not know who it was, and they were wearing some kind of mask as well. They told me that I was to kill someone, or they would kill me myself. I...I have no idea why.” Tsukasa slides off his jacket, undoing a couple buttons on his shirt before pulling the shoulder to the side, revealing a healing slash mark on the pale skin.

“They attacked me too, and I knew I had no choice. This truly is a kill or be killed situation. Truthfully, I picked Kanzaki-senpai at random, but Mashiro-kun walked in on me, and I was forced to kill him. You are correct, I used my time alone to clean up my evidence, and the dirty uniform was in the bottom of the bag I used to bring food to Ritsu. After I accidentally tried to enter the wrong room, I discovered the capability of the ID’s, and so I snuck into your room, Hasumi-senpai. I believed that you would have some kind of glasses cloth that I could use to clean my weapon.” Tsukasa pauses, taking a breath. Arashi can tell he’s scared, surely he knows what’s coming for him, but he’s trying to remain strong nonetheless.

“I...I am sorry.”

The vote goes smoothly, and quietly, once again. Arashi’s hand feels heavy as she moves it to vote for Tsukasa, but she does it anyways. The red-haired boy said it best himself-’kill or be killed’. This game they’re in is truly sick, but what can they do? It’s only human nature to protect themselves first, and others second, right?

 

Execution: The Robin Hood and the Heir

 

Arashi watches the words fade from the large screen behind Mademoiselle’s chair, a stinging kind of deja vu wracking her brain as they do.. When the screen begins playing video footage, she sees Tsukasa, sitting on some kind of throne. Upon closer inspection, it’s made of thin arrows, somehow piled together to cleanly hold the first year. There’s no audio in this either, which Arashi is grateful for. She can tell that Tsukasa’s hands are being held down to the chair, and he can’t break himself out either.

In front of the throne, small versions of Mademoiselle dressed as what appears to be servants pace back and forth, setting various items in front of Tsukasa. Each one seems lavish and grand, the kind of things Arashi would love have own but will probably never want to see again after today.

When a servant walks into view with a bow and a quiver of arrows strapped to its back, the blonde holds her breath. Sure enough, the servant fires an arrow, which strikes Tsukasa’s leg.

If there’s anything to be said from the previous execution and this one, it’s that Mademoiselle really loves watching her captives suffer through a bit of pain before they meet their untimely deaths. There are multiple servants now,but Tsukasa only seems to be getting hit in the arms and legs-nowhere vital is being targeted. At this rate, he’ll die of blood loss. The amount of blood that Arashi can see, quite frankly, is disturbing to her-she wasn't even sure she knew that people could bleed that much. Maybe it's the excess of arrows, or the red of Tsukasa's hair that adds to the effects, but she feels light-headed, forcing herself to watch this video for some strange reason.

Despite his normally composed exterior, Arashi can tell the first-year is struggling to break free now. She can’t blame him-it looks like he’s in a lot of pain, and just thinking about all of those arrows makes her cross her arms over each other protectively. It makes her skin crawl, watching someone slowly meet their demise like this, and knowing that it's partially because of her actions that the person is going to die young. 

Slowly, the arrows on screen begin to decrease, and as Tsukasa finally appears to stop struggling, the video fades to black, leaving the remaining students with the suffocating darkness and nothing else. it's quiet, too quiet, and the painful deja vu feeling only grows stronger, more foreboding. How many more times are they going to have to go through this? Arashi vaguely remembers reassuring Mika that they would be okay, that they wouldn't die, but she doesn't even believe her own words anymore.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> gacha announcement got me like  
> also wow i'm being mean to the aoi bros daMN  
> no actually, kasa is my second best boy (behind rei) and i may have shed a tear or two while writing this  
> i think i mindfucked myself too like i had to make a timeline and reread the investigation so many times it was like a confusion festival  
> if anyone needs me to explain further please tell me if anything was unclear! i'm more than willing to explain how everything went down/details that might not be clear enough and if a lot of people say that this is all over the place, i'll try to edit it to make it clearer!  
> the next chapter is like halfway done so maybe it'll be up tonight? maybe not? who knows. not me
> 
> thanks for reading!  
> twitter @squirrellissa


	15. 3-1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A lump forms in Koga’s throat at the thought of angering whoever’s put them in this mess, but if whatever Adonis has to say is important enough to call Koga to his room when it’s nearly midnight, it’s important enough for Koga to stay and hear-no matter the risk.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> chapter 3 go! 2 down, 8 to go oh boy  
> someone commented on last chapter abt this so i figured it would be a good time to point this out since i never really said it, but leo isn't actually here...yet.

They've only got each other.

The ninja star has graduated from Yuuta’s pocket to a small shelf in his room, and it seems to watch over Yuuta and Hinata as they cling to each other in the younger twin’s room. After the first trial, Yuuta was sure he’d never be so emotional again. Unfortunately, the day’s events had proved him wrong-it’s late, past the start of the ‘night time’, and he’s wide awake yet exhausted all at once, all but sobbing into his brother’s shoulder. There’s nothing either of them can say to console each other. And of course, on top of the overwhelming sadness, he’s worried now as well-the discovery about the ID cards has made everyone feel a lot less safe, knowing that they can’t lock themselves in their room for safety.

He’s lost track of how long they've been like that, clinging to each other helplessly, hopelessly. It could have been a few minutes, a few hours, a few years-time seems to run together in Yuuta’s tired mind. Their pity party is interrupted suddenly by the sound of the doorbell ringing, sending the younger twin to his shaky feet in an attempt to stumble towards the door. He sees his face briefly, distorted in the reflection of the doorknob, and it's every bit as messy as he expects-eyes and nose red and puffy, visible tear tracks on his cheeks. Running a hand under his eyes in a futile attempt to hide what's been happening, Yuuta turns the doorknob with his other hands, taking a steadying breath before pulling the door open. On the other side is Rei and Koga, which is a bit of a surprise-mostly because Koga doesn’t look like he was dragged here against his will, despite how he normally acts around Rei.

“Sakuma-senpai? Oogami-senpai? Why are you here?” Yuuta clears his throat awkwardly, standing in the doorway and quickly running a hand across his eyes to catch the tears sitting heavy on his eyelashes.

“I don’t particularly like seeing my juniors upset. We just wanted to check on you.”

“We were worried, dumbass! You two were cryin’ the entire way back up!” Yuuta stiffens for a moment, feeling a bit embarrassed-he tried to hold back the waterworks, or at least hide them,until he had a bit more privacy, but apparently he didn’t do as well has he believed. At the sound of Koga’s yelling, Hinata makes his way to the door as well, looking over his brother’s shoulder to fake a smile and wave at the two upperclassmen.

“We understand if you want your privacy now…today has surely been a hard one for you both.” Yuuta nods, looking down at the floor and blinking rapidly, his eyes feeling uncomfortably hot again. There’s an awkward moment where no one dares to move or speaks, before Yuuta feels an arm around him, his brother pressed to his side. Looking up a little, he almost laughs-Koga’s trying to pull the two in for a slightly awkward hug as Rei looks on, looking down at Koga with an almost proud look on his face.

Yuuta’s always had a sneaking suspicion that Koga cares more about people than the he lets on-he’s clearly not an expert at dealing with emotions, but right now, he at least seems like he’s trying. The second-year doesn’t say anything, and Yuuta wasn’t really expecting him to do so, before he stands back up, looking down at the twins, eyes blank.

“See, Doggie? You do know how to play nice, after all.” Koga turns on his heel, growling as he stares up at Rei, the heavy mood changing as he does so. As he goes off on Rei, Yuuta turns to look at his brother, the forced smile still on his face. Yuuta cracks one of his own, wiping a tear out of the corner of his eye and trying to sort out his confused emotions. The mood has turned from sad to bittersweet, he decides-even though the loss of Tsukasa (and Shinobu) feels like a lead weight in his heart, some things are still normal. And maybe, he decides, it’s not bad to just pretend, even for a second, that they’re back in the club room, watching Koga yell, letting a small, pained laugh slip past his lips.

“What are ya laughing at?” Koga turns, looking a little surprised and slightly offended as Yuuta’s laughter grows.

“Nothing, nothing. You just never change.” He sighs, swallowing a yawn and stretching his arms above his head. 

“Thanks for checking on us,” Hinata starts, the smile on his face beginning to look a little less forced. “We really appreciate it.” The two upperclassmen turn to take their leave, Koga still muttering something angrily under his breath as they go. Hinata turns to face Yuuta, and the younger twin doesn’t know if he’s making a weird face or something, but soon, they’re both looking at each other, a strange mix of laughter and tears on their faces in a silent attempt to create the same illusion of normalcy. Even though he knows he’s pretending, Yuuta can’t help but think back on how he had thought he only had his brother-even though Rei and Koga both show their affection in weird ways, Yuuta is almost positive they’re there for him and his brother as well.

“It’s hard to remember what’s going on when everything seems so normal for a moment, you know?” Hinata nods, turning to leave his his brother’s room. He’s tired, his eyelids feeling heavier and heavier by the second, and the dark of the night sky coming in from Yuuta’s window isn’t doing anything to help that feeling.

“We should get some sleep. Maybe we’ll feel better in the morning,” Hinata suggests. He knows it’s a lie-the happier mood that had been in the air for a moment is already dissipating, fading back into nothingness. They’re tired, and it’s so much easier to pretend that everything is okay when their brains aren’t even fully awake. Surely, the feeling will be gone completely when morning comes.

“Sorry for laughing like that. It was the wrong time, wasn’t it?” Yuuta’s standing in Hinata’s doorway, the older twin looking very much like he wants to fall asleep. Yuuta had followed him back to his room, just to say goodnight, to find some sort of distraction to keep himself from breaking down again. He knows Hinata knows it too, that the happy mood they’re both trying to hang onto is an illusion, it’s nothing more than a defensive mechanism to keep themselves from breaking.

“I think Tsukasa-kun would have been glad to see you happy,” Hinata shrugs, yawning. “Goodnight, Yuuta-kun. See you in the morning.” Yuuta nods, wishing his brother a goodnight as well, before heading back to his own room. Left alone, the reality of the situation begins to close in on him more, the bittersweet feeling in the air becoming heavier and heavier. He closes his eyes, leaning against the headboard of his bed, and sighing. He wants to pretend, he really does. If there was a way to fake that none of this was happening, that everyone was still alive and well, the Yuuta-kun would go through with it in a heartbeat. But, there isn’t, and at the end of the day, no amount of illusions will let him forget that.

 

When Koga gets back to his room, he’s surprised to find a small slip of paper just past his door. His heart nearly stops for a second-this is what happened to Tsukasa, isn’t it? Is the same thing going to happen to him? However, picking up the paper carefully, he sighs when he recognizes the handwriting immediately as Adonis’s. There’s no way Adonis would ever put him, or anyone else, in danger-he’s just not that kind of person that Koga could ever see causing harm.

The note isn’t very detailed, and it’s a bit hard to read Adonis’s messy handwriting, but Koga can tell that he should go to Adonis’s room-it seems like the other second year has something ‘important’ that he wants to tell Koga. Carefully closing his door and making sure he has his ID card, Koga walks the few doors down to Adonis’s room, knocking on the wooden door.

“I got the note, what’s up?” When Adonis opens the door, he takes the invitation to step into the taller boy’s room, looking around. Koga’s been in here a couple of times before, and the room is fairly similar to his own-from the few glimpses he’s gotten into other people’s rooms, it seems like everyone’s room decor is based off of their unit. It’s a bit of a strange idea, but then again, this whole scenario is strange.

“I wanted to tell someone earlier, but I never got the chance,” Adonis starts. He looks around nervously, his eyes falling on the small security camera in the corner of his room, as if what he’s about to say will get them in trouble A lump forms in Koga’s throat at the thought of angering whoever’s put them in this mess, but if whatever Adonis has to say is important enough to call Koga to his room when it’s nearly midnight, it’s important enough for Koga to stay and hear-no matter the risk.

It’s not his only motivation for going to Adonis’s room, either. He’d only thought of it when Rei had dragged him along to go check on the twins after the trial (which he couldn’t refuse-even if he didn’t outwardly show it, he did care for the two younger boys). Adonis and Souma had been close, so surely Adonis was at least a little bit affected by the trial. Maybe he was just tired, but Koga couldn’t think of many other people he’d willingly go to at midnight to talk about the death of their friend-maybe Adonis was just that special, that Koga cared more than he felt he should have.

“The two previous nights, I saw something strange outside.” Koga tilts his head slightly in confusion. Something?

“Actually, it was ‘someone’, not something,” Adonis adds quickly, walking over to one of the windows in his room, calling Koga over with a small hand gesture.

“By the fountain,” he says, pointing in the fountain’s direction. There’s no one out there right now, and Koga doesn’t exactly believe him, but surely there’s more to the story, right?

“The first time it happened, there were two people. Last night there was one,” he explains, pulling his hand out of the window and standing next to Koga, looking through the glass instead of trying to stick his head out as well.

Koga leans back in, his hair a bit messed up from the strong wind that’s started blowing-all of the hot weather lately has called for a lot of storms at night. As he keeps talking, Adonis absentmindedly reaches down to flatten the shorter boy’s hair, much to Koga’s surprise and slight embarrassment.

“I think they might be related to who put us in here. I don’t recall the details, but the way they talked was suspicious.” Koga nods, looking back out of the window. There’s still no one outside, but now, he’s almost waiting for someone to show up. It’s putting hm a bit at edge, but this still might be useful information in the future.

“So that means the bastards that locked us up here...there’s more than one?” Adonis nods, his face expressionless. He turns to look back at the window, and the look on his face suddenly grows much more serious. Koga turns to follow his gaze, and promptly sticks his head out of the window when he sees not one, not two, but three figures outside, standing right by the fountain, exactly like Adonis had said.

One moves to sit on the side of the fountain, and Koga notices that their movements are very stiff, like they’re having trouble walking. The other two are taller than that first figure, and Koga leans a little further out of the window, trying to find any details that might clue him in on who the people are. Unfortunately, the wind is so strong that it makes his eyes water, and the howling sounds created by the gusts of cool air remove any chance he has of trying to hear what the people are saying.

There’s a sudden loud noise, like a tree branch cracking, and Koga jumps forwards, leaning a little too far out the window and slipping a bit. He lets out a reflexive noise of fear, but before he can move much further (would he have fallen out of the window? He’s not sure, but he doesn’t want to find out!), Adonis’s arms are around his waist, pulling the second-year back in the window. He falls the the ground rather unceremoniously, a bit dazed and surprised, blinking back the shock.

“Are you alright?” Adonis’s eyes are wide and concerned, and Koga nods, taking a long, shaky inhale and exhale, closing his eyes for a moment, and shaking his head to clear it. If the sight of three people who could possibly be responsible for their capture made him tense, then the sudden sound of a tree branch cracking nearly gave him a damn heart attack.

“Yea. Goddamn trees.” He stands up, taking a couple careful steps back to the window. He’s not going to stick his head out of it this time, he’s learned that lesson for sure, but he can tell that the people that were by the fountain are no longer there.

“I think they heard us,” Adonis says, in his usual blunt manner, looking out of the window beside Koga. Koga nods in response, cursing himself mentally for ruining that opportunity to possibly catch the asshole responsible for this mess.

He steps back from the window, only to find himself in Adonis’s arms, the taller boy hugging him tightly. Koga struggles in the grip, trying to breathe, before it loosens a little bit. It kind of surprises him-he can feel Adonis’s hands shaking against his back slightly, and Koga lets himself lean against the taller boy a little bit, closing his eyes. It feels nice, and he’s a lot more tired than he’d realized.

“You scared me. I have already lost one person, and I do not wish to lose you, as well.” The words strike some kind of strange pain in his heart-most of it is pity for Adonis-the taller boy isn’t usually emotional on the outside, but that certainly doesn’t mean he doesn’t have emotions to begin with. There’s also a small part of him that feels some weird, burning pain at the thought of losing Adonis-he passes it off as being too tired, or something of the life, muffling a yawn against Adonis’s shoulder as he relaxes in the warmth of the taller boy’s hold. His heart's still beating fast-he probably wouldn’t have fallen out of the window, but that doesn’t mean he didn’t feel like he was going to.

“I don’t wanna lose you either. You mean a lot to me, ya know?” The words come out before Koga can stop them. Embarrassed, he groans, slamming his forehead into Adonis’s shoulder and biting his lip, hard. Even though he feels like he’s on fire from saying something embarrassing like that, Koga still has to force his eyes open to keep from falling asleep in the comfortable warmth around him.

He stands up straight, moving his way out of Adonis’s embrace carefully, scratching the back of his neck awkwardly as the stares at the taller boy’s face, looking for any sign of emotion on his tanned features.

“Sorry about that. I’m gonna go, if ya don’t mind-I’m tired.” He yawns again, turning to walk towards Adonis’s door, carefully navigating in the dark room so he doesn’t bang his leg on anything.

“G’night, Adonis.” Koga says softly, over his shoulder as he opens the door to leave. He can see the exhaustion on the other boy's face-it really has been a long day for everyone, and surely, they're the last ones awake. It's probably past midnight at this point, not to mention, those trials are absolutely exhausting, mentally and physically.

“Goodnight, Oogami. Please be careful.” Koga nods, closing the door to Adonis’s room softly, and hurrying back to his own. Surely, everyone is asleep by now, but that doesn’t make it any less creepy to be alone in an empty hallway in the stupid death trap of a school. Besides, if they theory they had about the mastermind staying in someone’s room is true, and that’s who Koga and Adonis saw outside, he doesn’t want to risk being seen by that person. If what happened to Tsukasa, Souma, and Tomoya was any indication, interaction with whoever is behind this mess can only lead to more disaster.

When he's back in his room, Koga still can't fall asleep, even though he can barely keep his eyes open. His mind is going much too fast, trying to think of anyone who might fit the bill for who was outside. It was hard to tell-the two standing figures were about the same height, so he had nothing to compare them too, and he couldn't tell the height of the sitting figure very well. If he had to guess, he'd say the people standing were about average height- one was a bit taller, but neither was extraordinarily tall or short.

Trying to think of whoever those people were, however, seemed to finally do Koga's exhausted mind in. Surely, he'd just find Adonis and they could talk about this more tomorrow morning. Maybe he had an idea of who the people were? After all, he did say that he'd seen them two nights before this one.

 

“Do you think they recognized us? Ugh, it’ll be such a pain if we’re caught.” Crouched behind the fountain, so that they can’t be seen from the dormitory building, are three figures. After one speaks, another figure stands up quickly, looking around the area before they crouch back down.

“We should be good. Let’s go-did he fall asleep again?” The nudge the third figure, who leans against the fountain, clearly asleep. The second person groans, and decides against waking the third person, opting to throw them over their shoulder instead. They let out a small, strained noise under the sudden weight, and the person who's sleeping stirs slightly in their sleep, but they don't wake back up.

“Can you blame him? I’m tired too, aren’t you? It’s been a long day.” The first person stands up, brushing off their pants before looking around the courtyard again, a slightly nervous look on their face. They're too far in to back out now, but that doesn't mean they want to be seen by anyone. Only their leader is completely confident in this plan anyways, although the unknown figure in question is beginning to feel a bit more at ease with that they're doing.

“We should get some sleep. We need to be prepared for anything.” While everyone else is sleeping, the three figures make it back to their rooms, undetected and alone. For now, their secret is safe.

Then again, if they were caught, what could the others do? After all, those three- they're the ones in control.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i love the light music club but how do i write them????  
> poor aoi bros they can'y catch a break  
> thanks for reading!
> 
> twitter@ squirrellissa


	16. 3-2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keito nods-he doesn’t need to worry Eichi with his troubles, that can be saved for another time.
> 
> Another time, when they’re not in mortal danger

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i've been waiting for this moment, he's here  
> also this chapter got more gay than planned but i figured that would be okay lbrh  
> sorry if this is kinda short and shitty, i've got the worst writer's block but i'm doing my best to work through it :)) like, i knew where i wanted to go with this chapter, but it just didn't feel like i could write it right :// so once i was at abt 2500 words i was Done (tm)

It must have rained again last night, Chiaki realizes, taking a step outside. The air has that just-rained smell, and the ground looks slightly damp. There are clouds far away, halfway visible on the horizon, being blow slowly away by a light breeze. It’s cooler than it’s been too, which is a blessing-the previous day was warm, and there was a lot of running around to be done. As usual, Chiaki is one of the first people awake-the courtyard outside is completely deserted. He knows he’s early as well, so he takes a couple minutes to walk around, taking in the comfortable, fresh air and clearing his mind after the insanity of before.

It’s been three days since the trial, all of which have been beyond uneventful-even the weather seemed to be the same every day, with bright, sunny days and dark, stormy nights. It made Chiaki wonder if they were trapped in a place that was not exactly...Earthly, but that was far too bizarre. 

The past few days have been rather quiet as well-everyone has been shock since Tsukasa’s trial. Not only the fact that someone who seemed so poised and prideful had been driven to murder two of his schoolmates, but the fact that whoever was behind this directly interfered to cause the murders, and the fact that three people had died in one day-five in total-made the air feel heavy, even under the bright sun.

He finds himself behind the fountain-maybe it’s an unconscious thing of his to go there, as he’s so used to looking for Kanata and finding him there. This time, he know’s he’s not looking for anything, but he’s still immensely glad he came over to the fountain. He nearly misses it, but there’s an object on the ground-at first he thinks it’s a stick, blown off of a tree by the intense wind last night, but he soon realizes-it’s not. It’s a pen, a thin black one that looks rather nice, with a letter written on the end- it looks like a ‘T’, but the script is very elaborate and it honestly could be any other letter.

There’s no doubt in his mind that this probably belongs to Eichi-it’s fancy (for a pen) and has a ‘T’ (Tenshouin) on it, so he’ll probably give this back to the blonde later. Rounding the fountain and turning in the direction of the cafeteria, Chiaki figures that it’s always better to be early than late. After all, there’s no way to be a hero if you’re too late to save the person in need!

When Chiaki enters the cafeteria, he’s mildly surprised to see someone else there-normally, he’s one of the first people there. If it was someone who he knows is probably punctual like Keito, or maybe Yuzuru, he wouldn’t be surprised, but no, he’s pretty sure the person with their head and arms resting on a table on the side of the room is Midori, of all people.

“Takamine! Good morning!” Chiaki’s loud voice echoes in the room, but the first-year doesn’t stir, his head remaining down on the table. Surely, he’s paranoid after yesterday, but the fact that Midori didn’t react at all to something as loud as his voice is definitely a source for concern. Nearly tripping over a chair in his hurry to get the table Midori was at Chiaki feels his heart catch in his throat. Careful not to grab the younger boy too hard, he takes Midori’s shoulder and shakes it, calling his name repeatedly in an attempt to wake him up.

Finally, Midori sits up slowly, rubbing at his eyes with a hand and failing to conceal a yawn. He blinks up at Chiaki, clearly still half-asleep, his face registering no signs of any emotion before he sighs, slumping over and letting his head rest back on the tabletop once more.

“Morsawa-senpai, I was sleeping,” Midori grumbles, his already quiet words muffled by the tabletop and his arms, framing his face. Chiaki can see his back move when the first year takes a large breath in, sitting up and resting his head in his hands. There are dark bags under his drooping eyes, and Chiaki can tell instantly that Midori didn’t sleep much the previous night-that explains the sleeping on the table, at least.

“Didn’t sleep well? This isn’t the best place to be doing that?” Chiaki sits on the table, balancing carefully on the edge while keeping an eye on Midori. The younger boy yawns again, making some kind of gesture between a shrug and a nod. Knowing Midori, that’s probably a ‘yes, I didn’t’. “Is something wrong?” Chiaki can’t help but be concerned for his underclassman, at most times, not when he knows (remembers) some of Midori’s struggles as well.

“I don’t get it...why did they die, instead of me? They didn’t deserve it.” Midori folds his hands on the table, resting his chin on top. His eyes point down at the table, unfocused, and Chiaki cleares his throat a little at the words.

“They didn’t, you’re right, Takamine. But you don’t either!” Midori sighs again, but doesn’t offer any other response, not even a brief glance in Chiaki’s direction. “Cheer up, Takamine! It’s a new day, the sun is shining, what’s there to be so down about?” Chiaki knows the answer-surely seeing a classmate die would have a negative impact on him too, but maybe if he’s entirely too happy it will lessen Midori’s own emotions, like a bright ray of sun on a cloudy day.

“Why don’t we go outside. There’s nothing like fresh morning air to wake you up!” Chiaki pushes himself off of the table, standing and reaching over to run his hand through Midori’s hair, to get his attention. He almost felt a little guilty for messing it up, before he realizes that Midori’s hair is always messy anyways-he probably didn’t fix the mess, or make it much worse-but there’s something so relaxing about running his hand through the oddly soft, pale brown strands.

“Jeez, Morisawa-senpai, let me get up.” Chiaki feels his hand being shoved off of Midori’s head, where it had settled before he could realize. He laughs, muttering out a small apology, but a small part of him wonders what Midori would look like without his usual messy-hair look. He’d probably different, probably a lot older and more awake, he decides on, among a number of other, more embarrassing probabilities that distract him. So much so, in fact, that he doesn’t realize he’s put his feet on autopilot, until Midori grabs his arm, jolting him out of his thoughts with a few words he doesn’t exactly make out.

“Sorry, Takamine, what was that?” Chiaki shakes his head snapping the last parts of his brain that are off in fantasyland back to reality. “I didn’t hear you.” 

“And you said I found a bad place to sleep. I said, there’s something in the fountain.” Midori gesture to the stone fountain, and geez, does everything involve this damned fountain? Following Midori’s hand, Chiaki can see that there’s definitely something in the fountain that isn’t normally there-he can tell it’s not Kanata, the object isn’t big enough or the right color, but it could definitely still be a person. His heart pounds for a second, at the thought of finding another dead body, but maybe, he can save this person. That is the job of a hero, after all!

He breaks into a run, nearly not stopping fast enough and sending himself tumbling into the fountain as well. The thing there is definitely a person, and definitely facedown, their hands tied behind their back.

Unfortunately, as Chiaki pulls the person out of the fountain, that’s not the only problem. There’s a pained, startled noise behind him, of all places, and the brunette spins around so fast he nearly falls over and makes himself extraordinarily dizzy. He can see Midori, leaning over, with a hand pressed against his lower leg. The younger boy looks up for a moment, eyes wide, before his falls forward in what feels like slow motion, face down on the ground.

Alternating between the person in his arms and on the ground, Chiaki freezes when he sees Mademoiselle. She raises a finger to her lips, a large syringe tucked under one arm, smiling eerily as she stands next to Midori’s fallen body.

“Be quiet. He clearly wanted to sleep so badly, so we will let him.” Chiaki doesn’t like the sound of that-he knows that Mao was knocked unconscious for falling asleep and therefore violating a rule, but sleep has another meaning besides just the thing you do at night. Another, more...serious meaning. 

After deciding that Midori is actually, literally sleeping, and not that other thing, Chiaki turns to the other person, lying on the fountain on their back, as he’d left them. Something from a distant first-aid knowledge tells him that he probably should have put the person on their side, but he was too concerned for Midori to think about that. It doesn’t really matter, anyways-from here, he can see the steady rise and fall of the person’s chest. Now that he thinks about it, that person wasn’t there before he went to the cafeteria, so they couldn’t have been in the water for too long. Nevertheless, their sudden appearance is a bit...strange.

When Chiaki finally gets a good look at the person, he’s surprised-it’s a familiar face, but not one he ever thought he’d see again. 

There, on the fountain, and generally looking no worse for wear (besides, you know, the who unconsciousness thing), is Leo Tsukinaga.

 

Later that day, Keito finds Eichi exactly where he’d expected-pacing back and forth in the Student Council Room. It’s been emptied of the weapons and dead bodies that had inhabited it previously, but that doesn’t stop a slight chill from spiraling down his spine as he enters-a murder scene is a murder scene, no matter how ‘clean’ it looks.

Beyond the large, glass windows, the working one of which is opened, the sun is setting over the horizon, painting the clouds that roll in like clockwork with all of the shining watercolors that normally settle in at this time of day. The salmon-colored light that passes through the window reflects off of Eichi’s figure, dyeing his near-white hair and casting deep shadows on his pale face, and it’s times like this when Keito can’t help but believe the words Rei always used to say, that Eichi was a devil with the face of an angel.

He’s more than glad to push that thought away, however, especially when Eichi turns to face him, his face looking concerned instead of the usual faint smile that greets Keito when he sees Eichi. It’s easy to tell something is bothering him, but knowing Eichi, it could be any number of things. Keito was sure it wasn’t good for someone with health as frail as Eichi to be stressing out like he obviously was, but there was really no way to stop that.

“Is something the matter?” He knows the answer, of course, but that doesn’t stop Keito from asking it anyways. As he expected, Eichi nods, crossing his arms.

“Tsukinaga is back.” Of course, that’s what’s bothering the blonde. Everyone had found out pretty fast, after Chiaki came stumbling through the cafeteria doors a few minutes late with two unconscious bodies. At least neither of them were dead this time, that was a relief.

“It throws off everything I know. I’d been operating under the belief he put us in this scene to punish me, and the Yumenosaki I’ve created, but now, that doesn’t seem so true.” That’s awfully selfish of him to say, but then again, this is Eichi, and he certainly has his moments. Nowhere near as bad as that Himemiya, but he can still be a handful at times. Eichi’s been walking away while he speaks, and by the time he’s done monologuing, the blonde is standing at the window, looking out of it as he leans on the windowsill.

Keito moves to stand next to Eichi-partially so he can hear him better, but partially because the sunset is particularly charming tonight, and it’s not just the person standing between the sunset and his line of view that makes Keito think that.

“Do you really think he would sacrifice the whole school just to target you? Be realistic, Eichi, there are surely people he cares about here too much to do that.” All of Knights, in fact, he almost adds, but something stops the words from spilling out. Eichi shrugs again, his mouth forming a thin, clearly unhappy line as he nearly glares out of the window, brow furrowed in concentration.

Knowing that Eichi being that far in though means he’s not going to get an answer anytime soon, Keito sighs, leaning against the side of the window frame and looking out, around the courtyard. Everything seems peaceful-it looks like Mao and Ritsu are eating dinner outside, under a tree, Arashi and Mika are talking under the shade of another large, green tree, and Adonis is running, while Mitsuru tag along, slightly behind him. 

Just below, he can see Kanata sitting in the fountain, looking content as ever, while Chiaki and Kaoru sit on the side, talking to him. Even Hokuto, who Keito doesn’t see as an outdoor person from the interaction they’ve had, is sitting and reading a book: although judging by the amount of times he’s had to swat away Makoto and what appears to be pigeons, maybe doves, just some kind of bird that Keito knows all too well the origin of, it’s not going too well. Looking across the grounds, it’s strange to think that this period of calm is inevitably going to be interrupted by more death, as little as he wants to face it. Whoever locked them in here has a goal, and it seems that no one will be free until that goal, whatever it is, is accomplished.

“I’m sure we’ll find out something soon enough. Something is bound to happen any second, at this rate.” Eichi breaks the silence, his words quiet and nearly going unheard as a wind suddenly sweeps the area. He looks so fragile, leaning out of the window, like he could just blow away and never be heard from again, and Keito wonders what it must be like to be like that-so fragile that you could just disintegrate at any moment. Despite his appearance on stage, Keito knows that Eichi’s been getting weaker, and surely this situation has affected him too.

Keito nods, because he knows Eichi is right. Even though he’ heard everyone talking about peace this, peace that, rescue this, freedom that, it’s unlikely to think that if something hasn’t happened by now, it won’t. They’re all been missing for at least a week, someone has to be looking for them, right? Maybe, they could send up smoke signals or something, that could get attention from-

“Keito, you’re looking awfully frustrated about something.” Eichi teases, smile back, pale blue eyes shifting from Keito’s face to the orangey-pink scenery around them, clouds in darkening shades of purples beginning to roll in. The calm before the storm. Keito nods-he doesn’t need to worry Eichi with his troubles, that can be saved for another time.

Another time, when they’re not in mortal danger.

SURVIVORS: Hokuto, Mao, Makoto, Rei, Koga, Kaoru, Adonis, Mika, Shu, Hinata, Yuuta, Leo, Izumi, Arashi, Ritsu, Chiaki, Kanata, Midori, Tetora, Keito, Kuro, Nazuna, Mitsuru, Hajime, Eichi, Yuzuru, Wataru, and Tori.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> just in time for the gacha: the sequel  
> i'm actually so scared to write leo...i feel like i can't grasp his character and it's so intimidating bc i know my characterization isn't spot on already (which i'm trying to fix orz) aka why i abandoned him and went to the keichi scene instead  
> btw if anyone's got any tips on characterization (or really just if there's any errors bc I Cannot Type) always feel free to hmu  
> is it safe to throw a keichi tag on this now bc,, i love keichi more than i should and i crave it  
> this chapter got so incredibly gay i'm almost ashamed but it's all i've got rn
> 
> thanks for reading!! (and listening to my rambling)  
> twitter @squirrellissa


	17. 3-3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “It isn’t like you to let other people be in charge. Or, to stand there and wait for death to take you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this would have been up earlier  
> but my friends and i were talking about leo tsukinaga's dick so it took a little bit longer  
> sorry  
> (not really)  
> also, if you're expecting me to be putting the new characters in-the answer is probably a no. school starts soon for me, and there isn't much known about the new characters other than their basic personalities which i don't feel is enough to write off of. also, i have a good amount of the trials preplanned out, so having to rearrange that to kill three more people would add another trial and take a good amount of work.  
> so, if you wanted me to add the new guys, sorry.  
> by the way, natsume is best switch boy.

Mao can’t remember the last time Ritsu actually woke up before him in the morning. He knows that Ritsu spends pretty much all of the daylight hours sleeping, or so it seems, so it’s a bit of a surprise to not find him passed out in his room when Mao goes into wake him up. He feels a little bad, using his own ID to sneak into Ritsu’s room, but at least it enables him to check on the other whenever need be. 

When Mao opens the door, gently, as if he’s trying not to wake Ritsu, he’s surprised to not see Ritsu sprawled across his bed like he always is. Instead, the bed is neatly made (something Ritsu never did, even at his own home), and Ritsu isn’t there. Mao’s confused for a moment, before he remembers that Leo had showed up yesterday and, yea okay, that’s probably a big part of why Ritsu is already awake and moving.

As far as Mao know, Leo is probably in the infirmary-it was the only safe place for him to sleep while he still didn’t have a room situation, and someone had brought up-what was it, dry drowning? Something about water staying in a person’s lungs and being able to kill them that way, long after the person had been underwater. Whatever it was, it had seemed like a significant enough health risk. When Mao gets to the infirmary, sure enough, the remainder of Knights is there. They’re all standing close to each other, talking about something in a hushed tone, too quiet to make out words but loud enough that Mao knows they’re talking.

It’s a bit weird how Ritsu always seems to know when he’s there, but the black-haired boy turns to face Mao, not moving from where he stands. His eyes widens for a moment, surprised, before his features turn to a very slight smile.

“Maa-kun, were you looking for me?” Mao nods: it’s not like Ritsu was in any danger as far as he knew, but he was relieved to see the other nonetheless. He takes a step forward, slowly at first, in case he’s interrupting anything, but no one makes any effort to stop the redhead as he gets closer. He’s not trying to be intrusive, he just wants to know what they’re talking about. Maybe they’re explaining this mess to Leo.

“So you’re ‘Maa-kun’.” It’s a bit strange to hear Ritsu’s nickname for him from someone else’s mouth, but Mao isn’t sure he’s ever met Leo-he probably only knows Mao through whatever Ritsu’s said about him. Mao nods, introducing himself properly.

“Isara Mao. Nice to meet you, Tsukinaga-senpai.” To his surprise, Leo laughs, the silence in the room shattering so abruptly that it makes the second year flinch slightly.

“Ahaha, I like you! You did take care of one of my knights, after all!” Mao nods, a little taken aback, but it’s true that he’s taken care of Ritsu for the past year, especially after Leo had disappeared. Ritsu said it had affected Izumi more, but the second-year didn’t take it too well, either.

“Hey, do you know where my last knight, the newbie? The other knight are keeping secrets from their king.” Leo keeps his voice quiet, as if it will keep everyone else in the room from hearing. Instantly, Mao tenses, trying to pull away, but Leo’s hand shoots out before he can, latching onto Mao’s wrist tighter than could possibly be comfortable. 

“Do you really think they can keep me in the dark much longer? I’m the king, after all.” Mao shakes his head no, slightly. He knows that surely, if the others hadn’t told Leo about Tsukasa, then maybe they didn’t want him to know. However, Mao can’t help but think that it wasn’t fair they didn’t tell Leo-he’s already late to this mess, so why increase what he doesn’t know?

“He was...executed. Three days ago. For murder.” He honestly can’t tell if that’s the right decision or not. The look on Ritsu’s face, on all of the other Knights’ faces, tells him it’s not, but the look on Leo’s says that it is. He looks relieved for a moment, at least, before he looks much more...betrayed? Is that the right word? Whatever it is, it’s not a good thing. Leo’s been standing, but for a moment, it almost looks like he’s been his in the face with something heavy, enough to fall over.

“Don’t talk.” Leo holds his hand up towards Arashi, who stands there with her mouth open for a moment before nodding and closing it.

“I can’t believe on of my Knights would sink to that level. You should know better.” Whatever power Leo has over these three is clearly showing itself right now, as the other Knights don’t talk. The don’t even move, they just stand, frozen in place. Mao almost apologizes, but stops himself-Leo wanted to know, it’s not Mao’s fault, it’s not his fault.

When Leo leaves, the others follow behind him immediately. It would probably be amusing to watch in another situation, but in this one, it just leaves Mao alone in an infirmary with a dizzying sense of guilt deep in his stomach. Trying to push the feeling out, he leaves after the group, deciding that it’s probably for the best that he makes his way to the cafeteria.

 

When Mao pushes open the door to the cafeteria, he’s greeted with a rush of noise that he isn’t entirely expecting. There seems to be a lot of that this morning. Nevertheless, it means something probably happened, so Mao takes it as a sign to try to find Hokuto and Makoto-he’d normally talk to Ritsu, but Mao doesn’t know he’s here right now and it would probably just feel awkward anyways.

“Isara, where were you?” Mao hears Hokuto before he sees him, the other two members of Trickstar standing to his left. It’s still a bit strange to not see Subaru there, especially after always seeing those three in the same classroom, but there’s not really anything he can do about that now.

“Sorry, I was looking for Ritchan. Did something happen?” ‘Mao, you dumbass, of course something happened!’, he tells himself, but it doesn’t stop the question anyways. The other two boys nod, quickly explaining what happened. It seems that Mademoiselle called another meeting, but in a different place, which was a bit weird. She said to meet in the entrance of the dormitory building at the usual time, which is in about fifteen minutes, give or take.

“I’ll be able to eat after, right?” Mao asks, the three deciding to leave early in case there’s something waiting for them at the scene. Why else would she Mademoiselle, or whoever was controlling her, have the meeting in a different place?

Unfortunately, there’s nothing there. Well, nothing really. There’s a weird indent on the wall that Makoto notices first, running his hand across the surface with a look of slight surprise.

“It’s two levels,” he announces, standing next to his discovery, looking rather proud. Walking up, Mao pushed on the part of the wall that is further back, and in the shape of what could be a large door. The wall doesn’t budge, although when he punches it lightly a few times, the wall does make a rather hollow sound, which could just be because of a room on the other side.

When Mademoiselle shows up, exactly on time as always, everyone else is already there, muttering about what this wall has enough significance to have a meeting in front of it. However, when the doll taps the wall- three times with her left hand, and then another three with her right, the wall suddenly pulls away, swinging like a door on hinges. As if it’s the most normal thing in the world, the doll starts walking into the gaping hole that’s suddenly appeared in the wall.

“What are you all staring at? Come along,” She’s back to the more formal way of talking, Mao notes, despite how jumpy the doll’s speech patterns had been previously. There’s another moments where no one moves, still staring at where the wall used to be, before they’re moving forwards, into what seems like a long hallway. The ground slopes downwards rather steeply, and it’s a bit hard to balance on the surface, but it’s not a large amount of distance before the ground evens out again.

The hallways is dark, lit with only small lights placed sparingly on the walls, and as the ground slopes down again the air becomes a bit colder. Mao pulls his jacket closed around his torso, holding it in place and grateful for the sweater under his uniform jacket.

When the ground begins to even out again, the air is cold-not the the point where Mao can see his breath, but enough to make him shiver anyways. At the end of the hallway, there’s a light visible, a dim, reddish low that almost looks like an emergency light for an underground shelter. Just where are they? Mao wasn’t even sure he knew the school had a room like this.

As they travel closer to the reddish light, the air temperature begins to even out again, growing warmer until it’s comfortable than before. The group steps into a large room, which is the source of the light. It looks almost like a large living room, but there’s an out of place...thing in the center. The bottom is metal, and there’s a large number of what seems to be levers and control panels. The top half of the thing is a large glass tank of sorts. There’s an object hovering in it, seemingly floating in the air, not much larger than a baseball or softball.

“Welcome to the Antimatter Room.” Mademoiselle says calmly, casually, as if the words rolling off of her tongue are a simple hello. Antimatter? Where has Mao heard that before? It was definitely something science related, but...wasn’t it just a myth?

 

“Antimatter isn’t real.” Mao turns to see Keito, arms crossed, looking at the hovering object, unamused. Mademoiselle laughs in response, that same creepy, robotic laugh as always, staking a step closer to the tank.

“Antimatter wasn’t real.” She says, smiling. “For those of you who do not know of antimatter, please, allow me to explain. By now, you should all know that everything on our Earth is made of matter. Antimatter is the exact opposite of matter, where each particle is reversed-an electron becomes and anti-electron, and a proton becomes a anti-proton. Even neutrons, which have no charge, can have antimatter equivalents. The particles in a neutron, known as quarks, have charges. Reverse their charges, and they become anti-quarks, allowing anti-neutrons to exist.

However, this does not provide any idea of what antimatter is, or what this object behind me, an antimatter bomb, does. To put it simply, antimatter reacts horribly when exposed to matter, such as the nitrogen and oxygen in the air. For these purposes, our antimatter bomb has been vacuum-sealed for your safety. When matter and antimatter react, they release a burst of light in the form of gamma rays, which will travel in exact opposite directions. Gamma rays, as in what is released during a nuclear explosion. To put it simply, a small amount of antimatter can cause a very large amount of damage-your campus would not stand a chance if this bomb were to blow up all of the sudden.” Mademoiselle laughs again, scanning everyone’s faces for a reaction.

“But, it’s not going to blow up, right? You said it’s sealed.” Mao asks, pointing to the bomb. The blonde doll shakes her head no, laughing again as if this whole situation really is quite amusing.

“This is where you all come in.” Mademoiselle flips one of the numerous levers, which causes a metal piece to slide away from the panels, revealing a clock, which is counting...down. Right now, it looks like there are about 40 hours left on it. 

“This timer,” Mademoiselle begins, “is connected to the vacuum seal for the antimatter bomb. Should the timer hit zero, the seal will break, and the antimatter bomb will go off. However, there is a way to stop this. The timer is also connected the system that activates the murder announcements. Should someone perish and be discovered before the next forty hours are up, and you all will be perfectly safe...well, most of you.

 

Keito is exhausted. He’s spent most of the day in the library, frantically researching anything and everything he can about antimatter, gamma rays, and really just anything that can prevent the explosion from happening, or at least weaken it significantly. Unfortunately, it seems like nothing can be done without highly scientific equipment, which the school likely doesn’t have. Keito briefly remembers seeing something called ‘Bio Lab’ or something similar, although the door was locked and he doubts the door has been unlocked now.

He finds himself talking to Eichi in the Student Council Room again, a strange sense of deja vu that he’s beginning to get accustomed to taking part in the conversation as well.

“Are you worried?” It seems odd for Eichi to not be doing anything-he hasn’t really been active in a search to try to prevent this explosion. “It isn’t like you to let other people be in charge. Or, to stand there and wait for death to take you.” The blonde really was a fighter as a little kid-surely, there were so many times when his body could have just given out on him and failed completely, yet he’d made it to the top of the idol universe and was still running.

Eichi starts to laugh in response, but it quickly turns into a coughing fit, one of the bad ones. He takes a moment to compose himself, before turning away from Keito to lean outside of the window again, the same colors from last night highlighting him and, is it just Keito, or does Eichi look a lot worse than he did yesterday?

“I think they’ll do just fine. Either way, I think I know when my time will come.” His smile looks weak, almost pained, and Keito’s heart skips, not in a good way. The blonde breaks into another coughing fit, and when it’s over, there a small amount of blood staining his arm, his sleeve rolled up to avoid getting dirty, and a drop on his lower lip, bright scarlet on pale skin.

“Are you taking your medicine?” He’s sure he sounds like a goddamn mother, but concern outweighs dignity and logic in this situation. Eichi shakes his head no, expression slightly bitter as he stares out of the window, refusing to look inside and face the other.

“I ran out a couple days ago. I don’t know how much longer I can go without it,” he admits, before smiling again. “Whatever happens will happen. There’s nothing you can, Keito, so don’t worry yourself too much, okay?” It sounds like something little kid Eichi would say to little kid Keito, and Keito nods, clearing his throat to try to get rid of the strange lump there.

He won’t admit it, because Eichi will only tease him for it, but Keito doesn’t like the thought of Eichi dying. Sure, Eichi isn’t always the...greatest companion, but he’s been Keito’s friend for nearly as long as he can remember, after all. Surely, anyone would get a little choked up at the thought of their childhood friend dying before them, that’s only natural, right?”

“Are you listening? I told you not to worry.” Eichi sounds frustrated, in that slightly spoiled way of his that only emerged when he’s really tired, as far as Keito knows, but it doesn’t stop the blonde from taking one of Keito’s hands in his own. It’s cold, much colder than a human should be, but that’s kind of oddly fitting for Eichi-someone who’s seen as cold, but is still human all the same.

“And, Keito, you don’t have to worry about the bomb. Someone will panic, it’s only a matter of time. If not, I’ll have it taken care of, no problem.”

 

“Are you sure this is a good idea?” A figure doesn’t move as their bedroom door opens, the noise familiar to them but haunting all the same. “It feels to early to be using the bomb. I was under the impression that it was a last resort.” They’re holding a small device, which has glowing red numbers displayed across it-they’re ticking down slowly, yet consistently. Currently, the timer displays 35 hours, nearly 34.

The other person shuts the door behind them quietly, as if they’re worried someone will hear them. They shrug, then sigh, rubbing a hand over their eyes.

“It’s not as if we make the decisions around here. We’re doing this for our leader, remember?” The person with the device shrugs, making a noise of agreement before tapping a few button on the device-it sounds like a phone being dialed.

“I still can’t believe we’re going along with this. It’s crazy.” They mumble, just enough for the other to hear, before stopping to laugh slightly at their own words. It’s not like they were forced into this against their will-no, that wouldn’t have worked at all. They were still hesitant about a plan as extreme as this one, of course, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t a brilliant way to accomplish their goals.

“Then again, so are we.”

The other figure can only nod-they’re the least confident in this plan, for sure, but surely, no person in their right mind would agree to helping set up a game where all of their schoolmates would slaughter each other. There’s just no way.

There’s the sound of the phone ringing, and nothing else in the room. The phone rings one, two, three more times, before a voice finally answers from the other side, sounding tired.

“We’re here to report.” The second figure speaks to the other person on the phone, continuing before they can get a response.

“What’s our next move?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sappy gay childhood friends ft. impending doom: the novel  
> did this get a little too zero escape? sorry. i finished zero time dilemma over vacation and still can't stop thinking about it..  
> but yea, if that's not a motive, then what is?  
> my knowledge of antimatter and the like is...limited, but i've looked at some science journals and googled stuff enough that i think i could get my point across? if i've gotten anything wrong lemme know because, haha, that would be bad.  
> in case that was too sciencey-basically, if the timer hits zero, the antimatter bomb will go off, destroying a good radius of area around the school and therefore killing everyone in the area (ie, the characters).
> 
> thanks for reading!  
> @squirrellissa


	18. 3-4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Feeling his throat tighten, Koga takes a step forward, careful. He’s almost expecting the ground to give out from under him, because this is not happening. There is no way in hell that this is happening. Right?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello, it's me, i'm back  
> i got caught up in birthday festivities (tm) and all that jazz + writers block so i wasn't really able to do much...hopefully this is up to standards!

“Yuuki, this is the third time you’ve fallen asleep in the past ten minutes. Are you sure you’re alright?”

The blonde in question snaps his head up from the cafeteria table at the sound of Hokuto's voice, stretching his face with a few over-exaggerated blinks before nodding furiously. Mao, still a little out of it after the events with Knights yesterday, watches silently, staring at a plat of untouched food sitting in front of him.

“I'm fine, just didn’t sleep a lot last night…” Makoto muffles a yawn into the back of his head, slouching back down into his seat. True to his word, there are large shadows under his eyes, and the pads of his fingers look red, almost as if he’s been typing something all night or rubbing his fingers against something for hours on end. Just what was he doing? It's not like there are very many electronics in this school as of now. Was he trying to find a way to defuse that bomb?

“What kept you up so late?” Hokuto asks, clearly suspicious.

“What’s that face for? I was doing something on one of the school’s laptops.” Makoto pauses, as if contemplating something, before speaking again. “I guess I could show you, if you want.” Hokuto looks to his right, at Mao, who’s been oddly silent this whole time. He nods, and Hokuto turns back to Makoto, who still seems to be struggling with keeping his eyes open.

“Yes. That would be a good idea.”

 

Sure enough, there’s a laptop in Makoto’s room, the school’s name written neatly on the top. It’s closed but not turned completely off, charging on the desk in his room, and the blonde nearly throws himself into the chair in front of it, opening the laptop and pressing the space button rapidly until the screen lights up. The laptop has a fairly normal home screen, although there’s one icon that stands out immediately. It’s a bright red circle, almost painful to look at against the laptop’s standard blue wallpaper. What’s even stranger, is that there’s no program name underneath, like a normal icon would have-there’s just a black box.

Makoto highlights the box, watching as it turns to blue. Nothing shows up on the box-he was probably trying to change the text’s background to see if there was any text there-black on a black background would show up if the text was highlighted-but it remains blank.

“What happens if you click on it?” It’s a pretty stupid question, to be honest, but Makoto clicks on the icon anyways. The screen freezes for a moment, before an error notification pops up on the screen. 

‘Error 404: Program cannot be found, or has been deleted.’

“Oh.” Realizing that he was probably in Makoto’s personal bubble, Mao took a step back, sighing softly. This is a pretty big disappointment.

“Wait a minute.” Looking at the keyboard, Makoto’s fingers are holding down the escape and enter keys at the same time. The error message flickers a few times, before the screen turns completely black. The room is silent for a moment, before the laptop starts making some horrible whirring, mechanical noise, almost like it’s working too hard.

“Is it going to explode?” Mao looks at the computer, slightly afraid, and takes a couple steps back. He’s not sure he’s ever heard a machine make that noise unless it was about to explode, after all. Makoto manages a small laugh, and shakes his head no. The screen fades back to life, the screen still mostly black with a few white boxes in the center.

There’s a lock on top of the boxes, and a small line of text below the lock reading “Input your information to enter Project Revolution.” The top box has requires an ID, the next a date of birth, and the last, a password.

“I tried every password I could think of, but nothing worked for me last night,” Makoto begins. “I ended up trying to fish around for something in the program’s coding, but I was exhausted and it was all nonsense...even now, wouldn’t make sense.” He sighs, leaning his head on the keyboard and inserting a long string of random characters into the first box.

“Could ‘Project Revolution’ be related to the first motive?” Hokuto asks, pushing Makoto’s head out of the way lightly and typing something into the boxes on screen.

“Maybe it is. I mean, whatever happened seems like a type of ‘Revolution’ at the school, if you think about it.” Mao’s referring to the large number of people killed-surely, that would bring a change to the school, the kind that might be brought about in a ‘Revolution’.

Hokuto hits the enter key, and the text on the screen is replaced with a small green arrow, circling in a loop. The word ‘verifying’ is written on the bottom. After a moment or two, the computer makes a loud error noise, and the words invalid user id’ replace the previous image on the screen. Makoto clicks the ‘OK’ button having picked his head back up, and the screen goes back to the login page.

“I should probably try as well, right?” Mao doesn’t wait for an answer, leaning over to type in the input boxes. He hits the enter key, and the small spiraling arrow comes up, the word verifying written underneath instead.

“Shouldn’t I have gotten kicked out by now?” He asks after a moment, tapping the side of the laptop’s screen with his finger, before the text under the arrow changes to read ‘retrieving user data’.

“It worked?” Mao feels as surprised as the other two look, but he can’t hide his slight excitement when the screen changes again. He seems to be looking at some kind of email inbox, although all of the names that could be in place for a sender or receiver are just seemingly random alphanumeric codes.

There’s also a list of words on the side of the screen. The most important ones, with the biggest text and in bold, are ‘Schedule’, ‘Body Count’, and ‘Video Files’. The ‘Body Count’ link sends a chill down Mao’s spine, but he avoids clicking the link and stands up instead, still staring at the laptop in slight awe.

“Should we go tell everyone else about this laptop?” Mao asks, looking at the other two Trickstar members.

“Mao, what information did you use?” Makoto’s eyes are wide behind his glasses, and Mao stops for a moment to remember that he just logged into something called ‘Project Revolution’ that no one else could get into (so far), and hey, that probably makes him look pretty damn suspicious.

“It was just the username and password I use for the school computers…” he explains. There’s nothing weird about that, right?”

In the end, the three of them decide that this whole situation, especially thinking back on those ‘execution forms’ from the first trial, and the fact that Mao was the only one able to get into the program, makes the red-haired boy pretty suspicious. Nevertheless, they decide it’s probably best to tell everyone else about the program-maybe other people who can log in can help uncover more information about the situation.

Makoto opts to stay in the room, saying that he needs to sleep a little bit, and he promises not to touch the laptop-he’ll probably just mess it up, he offers, with a small grin and a laugh. Mao and Hokuto agree to go out and tell others-together, as splitting up is probably not a good idea with a motive in place.

 

“I don’t get it. How do I not remember any of this?” The duo have stopped for lunch. The cafeteria is empty except for them, which is a bit of a surprise-it’s a fairly normal time to be eating lunch, so where is everyone? Actually, just in general, the two second-years were having a bit of trouble tracking everyone down. Some people had been in their rooms, and a few others in the room with the bomb, those were fairly easy. However, everyone else wa a pretty random guess.

“Isara, we all forgot something, it seems.” Hokuto folds his arms, looking a bit annoyed, and Mao feels a bit guilty. Sure, he’s got every right to bewildered, but he’s complaining nonstop since they left Makoto’s room about this whole mess. He’s not the only one stuck here, after all.

“Do you think we should watch those videos when we get back? They might have important information.” Mao stands up, biting his lip after he speaks. He’s not entirely sure he actually wants to see what’s on the videos, but it might be beneficial. Either that, or it will completely scar him. Or both.

When the boys leave the cafeteria, they decide the next best place to check will be the infirmary. There’s any number of reason someone could be there, so why not try? Sure enough, there’s two people there, although neither is Eichi-it’s Wataru and Yuzuru instead, who appear to be looking for something.

“What are you two doing?” Mao asks, walking into the infirmary and looking around. It’s the same as he remembers it being from when he woke up after Mademoiselle drugged him.

“It seems Tenshouin-sama is ill again, so we have been looking for something similar to his prescription medicine that might make him better,” Yuzuru explains first, although he does so without leaning away from the cabinet he’s looking in, so the sound is oddly distorted.

“We’re simply trying to preserve His Majesty’s life,” Wataru’s voice follows, and Hokuto makes a face at that.

“Fushimi already said that.” Said second year leans out of the cabinet he’s been searching at that moment, looking over a small bottle in his hand, then to a small sheet of paper in his hand, before placing the bottle back into the cabinet.

“Is there something you need?”

The two Trickstar boys take a moment to explain the laptop, and what the found in the program-leaving out the fact that they used Mao’s school sign in to access the program, just as the have every time the story’s been told. It’s probably not a good thing to lie, but making Mao (more) suspicious isn’t a good thing either.

Yuzuru thanks them, promising to pass the message on to Eichi and Tori when he sees them, and the other two second years excuse themselves. There’s still a large number of people they need to find and talk to. Although, in all honesty, the two are a bit surprised. It seems like despite the threat of imminent death via antimatter bomb, no one is extraordinarily panicked. Maybe everyone is planning a way to prevent the bomb, and get themselves out-although that though sends a chill down Mao's spine, and he has other things to think about right now. If (when) someone dies, he can deal with it then.

 

“So, the bomb is going to go off tonight if nothing happens, right?” Mao asks. It’s been another couple hours, and the two second years have managed to report to everyone the news about the strange laptop. There’s no big clock anywhere that displays how much time is left, but if Mao remembers correctly, the timer was at sometimes between 24 and 48 hours, yesterday morning at about 9:30. Less than two days.

Hokuto doesn’t answer, and Mao can tell that the other is off in some deep though trip. Mao can’t help but follow, and the two walk in silence, each lost in their own thoughts about what could possibly become of them.

Unfortunately, Mao isn’t paying attention to where he’s going. The red-head feels a sudden pain in his toes as he enters the dorm building again, looking down and stumbling forwards slightly to see a strange bump in the floor mat at the front entrance. He stares at it for a moment, slightly suspicious, before remembering that him and Hokuto are supposed to be going back to watch the videos on the laptop-at least, that’s Mao’s plan.

When the boys get back to Makoto’s room, they end up using Mao’s ID to open the door-Makoto was still sleeping, and it seemed a bit rude to wake him up by ringing the doorbell nonstop. Luckily, he wasn’t too hard to wake up, and in a few minutes, the three were turning their attention back to the laptop.

The three sit on the edge of Makoto’s bed, facing the headboard, the laptop sitting on the mattress in front of them. This way, everyone could see the screen easily. There’s a large amount of videos on the screen, most of them with names that were alphanumeric- A1, A2, and so on. About halfway through the ‘I’ section, Mao stops, his eyes falling on a thumbnail that made his blood run cold.

“That’s my sister.” He stares at the screen, unable to stop the pounding in his chest. Unless his sister suddenly had a twin, or a lookalike, there was no doubting that that was the girl. Something in his mind tries to stop Mao from clicking the video, as well as Hokuto and Makoto, but the curiosity overpowers all of those voices. It’s true that no one had any indication of what had happened to their family, and Mao is no exception.

The video takes a few seconds to load, but once it did, it began to play instantly. There isn’t seem to be a pause button or volume options either, which means the three are going to have to watch the video all the way through, as it is.

Sure enough, Mao’s sister appears on the screen. She seems to be tied up, sitting on a wooden chair, her hair messy and look of absolute terror on her face.

“What are you doing?” The girl is clearly trying to break herself out of the ropes binding her to the chair, but she’s not very successful. The camera moves a little, zooming in on the girl a little more, and there’s the sound of a small laugh in the background before a figure appears on the screen.

“That’s me!” Mao sounds half astonished, half panicked, staring at himself on the laptop screen. His hands tighten in the blankets bunched at the foot of the bed, barely blinking as he watches himself, turning to smile at the camera with a gun in his hand.

“That can’t be me,” he rephrases, quietly. He’s speaking, but the words are filtering in one ear and out of the other. He wants to look away, but it’s not working, as his figure moves closer to the girl sitting in the chair.

“You really should have listened when I told you to join us. I don’t want to do this, you know?” On screen, the strange new Mao is pointing the gun to his own sister’s head, looking like the words he’s saying are complete lies. The girl’s eyes are screwed shut, her lips moving in a silent apology.

“Get on with it.” There’s another voice from behind the camera, although Mao’s mind is too shocked to register who it is speaking. Mao glances back up the camera, smiling eerily, looking completely unapologetic.

Hokuto’s hand flies up to cover Mao’s wide eyes, but they’re just a moment too late. It wouldn’t matter anyways-he still had ears after all. There was no denying the sound of the gunshot that echoed through the room, and in surprise and disbelief, Mao found himself falling backwards.

 

Mao wakes up in a cold sweat, his mind and heart racing as his eyes dart around the room.

“Oh, you’re awake.” Mao sees Hokuto standing in his room. It’s still light out, judging by the light that filters into his room through the windows, although the light is more orange than white-it’s going to be night soon.

“You fainted after we watched that video. Why did you click on it?” The video was real, that’s all Mao gets out of Hokuto’s words. The video wasn’t a bad dream-he’d actually seen a video where he shot his own sister, and now, he doesn’t remember it at all.

Mao shakes his head, unable to form a coherent thought, let alone words. When he does find the words to answer, all that comes out is a “leave me alone.”

“Suit yourself.” The tone in Hokuto’s voice is more betrayed than angry, but it still hurts to hear anyways. Maybe, Mao thinks, he’ll be better off once he has a few moments and think through what’s happened and make sense of it. Yea, that’s it, he’ll be fine in the morning. When the bomb goes off.

 

In all honesty, Koga doesn’t think much of it when he wakes up the next morning. Yesterday had been spent looking for a way to defuse the bomb, although it hadn’t been on his mind when he went to sleep, and so the second year didn’t feel anything when he woke up. Looking to the clock on his wall, he realized that it was...8am? Did the morning alarm not go off, or did he just sleep through it?

Sensing that something is wrong, Koga flings himself out of bed. Throwing on a uniform that’s crumpled at the foot of his bed and grabbing the ID card off of his bedside table, he makes it to the door in under a minute. He’s only reminded by the crash of his room’s door hitting the wall after he opens it rapidly that, hey, a bomb was supposed to go off. And, if that bomb didn’t go off...it means someone died, and was found, right?

When he makes it to the dormitory’s exit, he sees a large crowd of people gathered at the entrance to the cafeteria building, and his heart jumps even further up the second year’s throat. Why did no one wake him up, if someone died? Did it mean someone he was close to was gone? The thought isn’t a pleasant one, but it is a possibility, and Koga takes off at a sprint, flying across the ground until he gets to the crowd.

He’s going so fast that he nearly trips over a dead body in an attempt to see what’s going on, shoving his way through the crowd. They’re facedown on the ground, the back of their head reduced to a strange, bloody mess that he really didn’t need to see. Nevertheless, he can tell from the person’s hair color and height that the person at his feet is none other than Nazuna Nito. It's strange to see someone dead, although it's not as upsetting as it's been before. Koga doesn't want to admit it, but he can already tell he's becoming desensitized to this senseless kind of murder.

However, that’s not all. There’s another, larger person a few feet away. Their body is in the same position as Nazuna’s but again, Koga can tell who it is.

And unfortunately, his heart nearly stops.

Feeling his throat tighten, Koga takes a step forward, careful. He’s almost expecting the ground to give out from under him, because this is not happening. There is no way in hell that this is happening. Right?

Wrong, reality reminds him, like a slap to the face. Even though he wants to deny it, Koga definitely knows who the other person is, the other dead body’s identity. Someone who he had just talked to yesterday, someone who was alive and well and themselves less than twenty-four hours ago.

Adonis Otogari.

SURVIVORS: Hokuto, Mao, Makoto, Rei, Koga, Kaoru, Mika, Shu, Hinata, Yuuta, Leo, Izumi, Arashi, Ritsu, Chiaki, Kanata, Midori, Tetora, Keito, Kuro, Mitsuru, Hajime, Eichi, Yuzuru, Wataru, and Tori.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello i'm back and ready to kill  
> what else is new  
> i'm sorry my children please forgive me  
> oh! also! people have been making guesses on the mastermind(s), so i thought it might be a good time to point out-being alive or dead has no impact on whether or not a person will be a mastermind (and yes, i know who they are already!)  
> also, just due to the nature/plot of danganronpa, some of the characters will likely have ooc actions in the future-most of these boys probably wouldn't kill each other, but unfortunately, for the story to continue, that's gotta happen :// i don't like it either
> 
> thanks for reading!  
> twitter @squirrellissa


	19. 3-5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After a few minutes of yelling nonstop, Koga’s calmed down enough to focus his anger somewhere else-finding the culprit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'm back from the grave that is school  
> also aRE THE ODDBALLS ON A FIRST NAME BASIS I COULDN'T FIGURE IT OUT i stuck to last names for now but i checked the wiki and couldn't find much....reading through all the stories seemed like too much of a hassle for my lazy ass so sorry if it's wrong!

Despite the ongoing chaos that comes with finding two dead bodies first thing in the morning, Keito has a sneaking suspicion that he knows what’s happened. He's not an idiot, thank you very much, and he still remembers very well the conversation he'd had with Eichi recently. Specifically, the part where Eichi said that, if worst came to worst, he’d ‘have the problem taken care of’. 

“Keito, do you suspect me?” Eichi’s voice replaces Keito’s thoughts, so light it's almost teasing but incredibly weak at the same time. “Do you think I’m strong enough to beat someone's head in like these two? How tragic…” The blonde nudges Adonis’s outstretched hand with his toe, and somewhere in the back of his consciousness, that wolf-boy, the one who used to be in his unit, is furiously yelling at Eichi for it. His attention moves to something else quickly, though-Mademoiselle, looking into the reduced crowd with a small smile. 

“Why the fuck are we still doin’ this?!” Koga’s yelling at the calm doll now instead of Eichi, arms crossed tightly and defensively as he stands stiffly next to Adonis’s body. As per usual, the doll allows herself a small giggle before giving a vague, yet chilling answer. 

“Do you mean this game? I am only carrying out my leader’s plans. Even though they are no longer with us, I will gladly do whatever they command-in this case, I will ensure that every last one of you is exterminated. Now, if you will excuse me, I have some preparations to make.”

Seeing as the doll is now gone, Keito scans the crowd once more, looking for anyone who might be acting particularly suspicious. Next to him, the rest of Undead and the Aoi twins seem to be attempting to console Koga, although it’s mostly just Koga half-yelling, half-crying about something. The twins almost look scared, and Kaoru looks fairly shocked, but the look on Rei’s face almost reminds Keito of the much more aggressive person he’d been in years past-although he’s probably angry about someone from Undead being killed.

Turning away from Koga’s yelling, which is becoming more and more annoying the longer it goes on, Keito finds the remaining two Ra*bits as well, standing silently next to Nazuna with blank expressions. Keito’s surprised the two first years don’t look more upset, although this might be one of those ‘too shocked to even show emotion’ situations for them.

From what Keito can see, no one is acting particularly strange-well, what could be considered as ‘strange’ given the circumstances. The words Eichi had spoken before still sit funny in his throat, but if Eichi isn’t willing to tell, then he won’t tell-there’s no way to force it out of the ‘emperor’ in the next seven or eight hours.

 

After a few minutes of yelling nonstop, Koga’s calmed down enough to focus his anger somewhere else-finding the culprit. He doesn’t bother to tell anyone else about the people outside, what he’d seen with Adonis and what the other had told him. That could be saved for later, after the trial was over and the killer was caught.

“What’re ya standin’ around for?! We’ve got stuff to do.” Glaring at the empty air in front of him, Koga holds back a snarl before turning around. He’s not exactly sure where he’s going, there’s not really anything on the crime scene that points out an area to check, but surely, there’s clues somewhere.

The second-year finds himself at the Student Council Room. It’s been somewhat related to the past two murders, so why not try there again? The door is slightly cracked open, although the room itself is empty-the door was probably left that way by the last person in here. Koga takes a few steps into the room, looking around a slight precaution. When he can tell that there’s actually no one in the room, he turns to push the door all the way open, looking into the hallway and seeing that there’s no one behind him. The most obvious thing after the last trial is to check inside the desks, and Koga is halfway through the second one before he hears a few voices in the hall.

“Oogami-senpai?” That’s the twins, at least it sounds like them, and Koga stands, taking the few steps to the door empty-handed. He still hasn’t found anything yet, if there’s something to be found in the room. Sure enough, the twins and the rest of his unit are in the hallway, seemingly looking for him.

“Did you sniff out a clue?” Before Koga can call out the four, Rei sees him and turns, now walking closer. Koga half-sighs, half-growls, too tired and frustrated to do anything but that. He thought for sure there would be something in this room, but so far, there’s nothing. Even though Koga’s a bit too tired (and upset) to deal with too many people right now, searching one room is a lot easier with four more people.

The second-year is still clueless by the time he finishes a third desk, but standing, he hears a rather surprised sounding, “Sakuma-san, what is that?” Koga turns at the sound, and sees Kaoru making a face at a piece of paper in Rei’s hands. It’s very thin, so much so that Koga can tell there’s writing on the other side, and a strange, brightly colored stain on the top corner of the paper.

“Please meet me in the Student Council Room at midnight. There is something we need to discuss.”

“I’m not going anywhere with you, bastard. What are ya getting at?” Koga crosses his arms, glaring up at Rei.

“I think that’s what the note says.” Kaoru points out, taking the paper from Rei’s hand and reading it over quickly before nodding. “Yea, so relax. The note has yesterday’s date on it anyways.” Koga rolls his eyes in response, hiding the embarrassment from messing up like that, but he takes walks over to take the note from Kaoru and reads it over. Sure enough, it’s telling someone to meet the (unnamed) writer at midnight in Student Council Room. The handwriting is kind of fancy, the type of thing you’d see on a wedding invitation, but the paper itself is nothing out of the ordinary apart from being incredibly thin. Surely, whatever ink was used to write the note would have bled through the paper.

It only takes a few more minutes before it’s pretty apparent that there’s nothing else of interest in this room. There was a strange spot inside a dusty cabinet that was fairly clean, but it was about the size of a binder or maybe a large notebook-nothing too out of the ordinary.

The group decides to head back to where the two bodies are after their search ends. Because he’d been so panicked earlier, and there had been so many people, Koga hadn’t gotten a good look around the scene-something he didn’t want to do, but it was probably necessary if he was dead set on catching Adonis’s killer.

As they’re on the way back to the crime scene, Koga hears a familiar buzzing sound, his jacket pocket vibrating with the noise. Right, it’s probably one of those files that shows up after someone dies. Taking out his ID and turning it all the way on, Koga sees that there are two more of those ‘Victim Files’-one for Nazuna, and one for Adonis.

According to the files, Adonis was killed first, at 6:50 am, and then Nazuna three minutes later, at 6:53. Koga briefly wonders if the two were both supposed to be killed, or if this is a scenario like last time where only one person was supposed to be killed, but another one walked onto the crime scene.

When he gets to the area where the two bodies are, Koga hears two other voices. The area has cleared out by now, everyone going their separate ways to eat breakfast or investigate, so it’s easy to find the source of the voices-Shu and Mika, standing a few feet away. They both seem to be freaked out, although from what he can hear, it sounds like Mika is also trying to calm Shu down. Koga knows that Nazuna used to be in Valkyrie, so they were probably close at some point, although he doesn’t know all of the details, especially of Nazuna’s decision to leave Valkyrie and join Ra*bits.

Before he can even blink again, Rei is over with the two Valkyrie members. Right, the oddballs, they’ve got some kind of weird bond too. Koga takes a couple steps closer, enough to pick up on what they’re saying without it being obvious that he’s eavesdropping, trying to listen in while getting a closer look at the crime scene all at once.

He starts by looking at Nazuna first, because that’s a little bit easier to do-partially because it’s closer to the voices, and partially because it’s not Adonis, for god’s sake. The second-year is so involved with trying to look for clues on Nazuna that he forgets to listen to the conversation behind him, until he hears a familiar name being brought up.

“I’m certain that Tenshouin was involved with this. He was trying to harm me and Kagehira.” Koga knows of Shu’s hatred of Eichi-Rei’s talked about it before, and he’s heard things from Mika too. The second year stops for a second, trying to tell if the words are a coping mechanism or if there could actually be some truth behind them. Unfortunately, so far, the lack of evidence says more than the actual evidence-whoever committed these murders had them planned out enough that they didn’t leave a lot of clues behind. While it certainly was possible that Eichi had written the letter in the Student Council Room, he wasn’t the only one with access there, and that also didn’t mean he necessarily killed Nazuna and Adonis-after all, they were found in front of the cafeteria at around 7am, not in the Student Council room.

Then again, the bodies could have been dragged or carried all the way out here-maybe that was why whoever the killer was needed an accomplice? But then, the accomplice had to be trustworthy, and-ugh, there are just too many possibilities. Also, Shu’s theory doesn’t really account for the death of Adonis either, so for now, it’s got almost no support.

Brushing the dirt from the ground off of his knees and standing up, Koga takes a few calming breaths before walking to where Adonis’s body is. His vision is suddenly hypersensitive, everything too light or too dark, his hand feel slightly numb, and his heart is lodged somewhere in his throat-it’s hard not to pass out just from the sight of Adonis, motionless and face down on the ground.

“You okay? You look like you’re about to pass out.” Koga pushes away the hand waving in front of his face. It belongs to Kaoru, who’s now standing in between Koga and Adonis. The second year nods, mumbling out something along the lines of “just thinking”, and takes a few steps to the left until the ground underneath him suddenly turns soft and almost squishy. Jumping back, he looks down to see some gross mangled mess on the ground-and on his shoes. It looks like a dead animal, maybe a bird of some sort, but it’s too disfigured to be anything recognizable.

Dragging his foot along the ground and trying to get the smushed remains of whatever that thing was off of his foot Koga’s eyes trace the ground a few inches to see that one of Adonis’s hands is outstretched, reaching towards the bird. It’s grossly symbolic in a way, he realizes, but the second year also realizes that Adonis was probably reaching towards the bird when he was killed. Did someone put it there as a trap?

Even though Koga promised himself he could handle this part of the investigation, he really can’t. It’s just far too unsettling to have to pick through the dead body of someone he was so close to-someone he really, seriously appreciated and trusted. He decides to break off from the group for a little bit, in hopes of finding the weapon.

The time on his ID reads about 9:30 am, and Koga has to admit he’s hungry to the point of being nauseous, but he pushes aside the discomfort. There’s a voice nagging in the back of his head that of course, Adonis would tell him to eat right this second, but Adonis isn’t here and Koga is determined to find out why.

Judging from what he saw on Nazuna’s body (Koga didn’t look at Adonis’s in too much detail), and assuming they were both killed by the same person (likely, given the time difference and proximity of the bodies), Koga figured that the weapon had to be some sort of large, heavy object, enough to bash someone’s head in. The first thing his mind suggests is a chair-maybe a folding one? There might be some of those in the auditorium.

When Koga gets to the auditorium, all of the lights are off. It’s a little unnerving, being in such a large space in such total darkness, and he’s grateful when he finds the light switches on the wall. The room is now flooded with light, although, he still can’t see any sign of a stack of folding chairs. Right, they’re probably backstage, in a storage closet or something. They wouldn’t be kept out in the open.

The storage closet’s door might actually be locked, Koga realizes, when he shoves the door with all of his strength and it swings open, accompanied by a strange sound that sounds like a lock breaking. Shrugging it off, the second year turns on the light, and blinks a few times, the light in the room amplified by the large amount of dust spiraling about in the air. Sighing at the little particles floating above him, Koga finds a two long rows of folding chairs in the back of the closet-metal ones that certainly look a bit heavy.

After stumbling through the messy closet and cutting the palm of his hand on a prop sword that should not have been that sharp for any logical reason he can think of, Koga reaches the chairs. There’s a lot of dust back here, he realizes, sneezing and trying to push the dust in the air away from his face with little to no success.

Another 45 minutes and about a million sneezes have passed before Koga finishes sorting through the chairs. Much to his disappointment, not a single one looks bloody or dented in any way-meaning that none of them could have been the murder weapon. There aren’t any missing either-two clean rows of 20 each, with a chair filling each space on the racks they were placed on and no empty spaces.

Starving, slightly dizzy, and disappointed with a runny nose and sore throat, Koga is more than thankful for the clean, sunny air outside. He decides that it’s for the better he finally eats, and so the second year stops to grab some food before he continues his search. Rei, Kaoru, and the twins are nowhere to be seen now, and it’s a little bit weird to have to walk past two dead bodies to get into the cafeteria, but moving them would probably just create more problems.

Koga makes a list of possible weapons on a napkin with a pen he’d found on the cafeteria floor. So far, the only other things he’s thought of is a laptop, a large book, or a shovel. The last of which seems the most likely. Surely, there’s a garden shed here, right? There’s plants and a garden and the like on campus, so hopefully, there’s a shed with some kind of shovel.

The shed is towards a back corner of the campus, but it’s there nonetheless. Koga checks the time again-it’s 11:10, meaning that about half of his time is up, and he feels like he still doesn’t know shit about this case.

There’s no one at the shed, although as he gets closer, Koga sees a trail of small red drops on the ground. His heart leaps into his throat again-he’s almost certain that’s blood, and if it is, then he’s onto something. The shed door swings open easily, the second year letting himself in. Light filters on from a window in the back, and to his left, a row of large shovels hang on the wall.

He only has to search for a few moments before he finds the shovel he’s looking for-stained red with blood and small amounts of dirt and grass. Koga reaches for the shovel, figuring that any evidence will go over better if he shares it, before he retracts his hand. Even if he was close to Adonis, he’s going to bring suspicion to himself if he starts walking around with a bloody shovel in his hands. He opts to take a picture on his ID instead, remembering that some people had done that in the previous trial, before steeling his nerves and promising himself to go back and look at Adonis’s corpse, for real.

 

As soon as he gets a break from investigation, Keito makes his way to Eichi’s room. He’s almost certain the blonde is involved with this murder in some way, and it doesn’t help that he overheard Shu and Mika talking about the possibility. It’s already almost 2:00, and the trial will be starting at around 4. As far as he knows, Midori and Chiaki came upon the bodies at around 7am, so he needs to get something out of Eichi, and soon.

The door to Eichi’s room opens a few moments after Keito rings the bell, and the third year almost stops to be concerned for the blonde. He looks even worse than he had the day before, and maybe even this morning, if possible. Eichi looks over Keito, a small smile of sorts settling on his face before he clears his throat and steps away from the door, leaving Keito to enter his room and close it behind him.

“Ah, Keito. Is there something you need? I’m not feeling too well, so I would appreciate it if you didn’t disturb me too much.” Eichi sits down on the foot of his bed, and Keito looks around for a moment. The room is well kept, it almost looks like no one has been living in here, but there’s a strange blackish stain on the desk in the back of the room. He makes a mental note to ask about that later.

“Eichi, I don’t mean to accuse you, but what do you know about the murders? You’re very suspicious?” Does that sound to harsh? Surely, if he’s too rough, Eichi will accuse Keito of being nosy and push him out. He seems to have a way of always making sure things go his way, after all.

“I don’t know much more than you. Although, there is something that could potentially be related to this trial, and I need you to look at it for me.” Keito nods despite himself-that was a completely crappy answer that Eichi gave and they both know it.

 

“I was told,” the blonde starts, stopping to cough into his elbow before speaking again, “that there is a way to get around campus without being seen. I don’t know how, exactly, but I heard that going the the auditorium might help you.” Keito gives Eichi a slightly quizzical look-the only people who might know about some hidden passageway in the auditorium would be the theater club kids, although Wataru is too loud to kill anyone, Hokuto too stiff, and Tomoya too innocent.

“I’ll tell you what I find.” Keito makes a move to leave, before Eichi stops him one last time.

“Keito, just remember. While I may seem suspicious, the only thing I could do in my current physical state is to be a good leader. I could never actually kill someone like this.”

 

The first thing Keito finds in the auditorium is three other people standing on the back of the stage and staring at the ground. It looks like the rest of fine, from what Keito can see. He makes his way up to the stage, going to see what they’re looking at, and is slightly surprised to find that a small part of the floor is altogether missing.

“Good afternoon, Hasumi-sama.” Yuzuru greets him with a small nod and returns to staring at the gap in the floor. It looks like there’s a ladder attached to one of the walls, the hole maybe being about a meter and a half on each side and fading into nothingness. He listens for a moment while Wataru talks about all sorts of strange things that could be down there, before Tori complains and Yuzuru asks him to ‘kindly shut his mouth’, before sighing.

“Eichi told me about this.”

“Tenshouin-sama spoke to you? Did he need us to speak with him again?” Keito raises an eyebrow at Yuzuru’s words. “We spoke recently, and Tenshouin-sama said that we may have to meet with him again later. I was wondering if he sent you.” Keito shakes his head no, slightly surprised.

“Eichi just told me to come to the auditorium, that I might find something there...well, I guess he wasn’t wrong.” Keito nudged the spot on the floor with his toe, to confirm that it’s an actual hole and not a drawing, but almost falls in instead when the floor is suddenly gone from under his foot.

“Should we check down here?” He points to the seemingly endless hole. “Surely, there’s some reason this showed up.”

Yuzuru offers to go first, and no one really has any complaints-it’s not like they know what’s down there anyways, and better safe than sorry. After a minute or two, Yuzuru’s voice suddenly calls up from the bottom-that it’s safe, there’s a floor down here, and it looks like there’s a door in front of him. Carefully not to fall, the other three make their way down to the underground area.

“How did His Majesty know about this?” Wataru asks, although no one answers-no one knows. Keito settles for pushing open the slightly ominous door in front of the group, which leads into a tunnel with a familiar reddish glow at the end. Suddenly. Keito has a suspicion of where they are.

Sure enough, the tunnel leads to the room where the bomb Mademoiselle had threatened everyone with was. It’s gone now, thank god, but the other end of the room has another entrance-the same one that leads up to the dormitory. Sure enough, Eichi had been right-there is a way to get from the school to the dormitory, across the campus, without ever having to be out in the open. Surely, that would be more than convenient for someone committing a murder.

 

In Makoto’s room, Mao is sure he should be doing more investigation, but the computer and the files on it are much more interesting to him. He’s watched that same damned video several times again, the one where he kills his younger sister, trying to figure out if it’s fabricated or not, something put there to psych him out. Although, why would whoever was behind this mess single him out? He wasn’t exactly sure. 

He jumps when the bell rings, loud, and buzzes in his ear for a moment after the sound ends, still hanging heavy in the air. He check the clock, and-that’s right, it’s 4:00, the trial is starting soon. In the room, Makoto and Hokuto have been talking about something-they spent a lot more time investigating today than Mao did, and they both look a bit on edge from hearing Mao repeatedly playing the video.

Mao closes the laptop, feeling a small bit of regret has he does so. He hadn’t gotten through as many of the files as he would have liked to, and he didn’t get the chance to do much investigation. Although, he did find a strange map on the computer, one that looked like floor plans for the school. The only difference was that there seemed to be tunnels under the school, easily visible on the 3d version of the map he’d found.

Stepping into the hallway, Mao catches sight of the remaining two Ra*bits, and the waves of guilt hit him again. Surely, those two are in an incredible amount of pain, and he’s done almost nothing to help them. The second year sighs, making his way towards the exit. Hopefully, after this trial, he’ll be able to go through more files and figure out what’s going on. But, for now, there’s another task at hand-solving another double murder.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ah eichi, you tricky (dying) bastard.  
> i think i've hopefully beat my writing block and should be a little less dead now-school's started so no promises, but i'll try to update more than one every two weeks orz
> 
> thanks for reading!  
> twitter @squirrellissa


	20. 3-6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Responsible, I suppose that’s the correct word. However, I did not kill anyone. You’ll just have to believe me on that.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hhhhhh i'm actually dying  
> i had this whole trial planned out but i then had the biggest brain fart of my life and have been staring at the same thing for three days so  
> i figured i'd find a good place to cut the trial and post something  
> sorry if its really shitty (it probably is ugh)

The elevator ride down the courtroom is the same as always. Dark, silent except for the whirring of the elevator’s mechanisms, and incredibly tense. Koga stares at the blank, black space in front of him, nervously biting the inside of his lip and running over the past few hours as fast as he can, as many times as he can. The once surreal concept of Adonis being...well, dead, is starting to feel more and more real, the deeper the elevator descends.

Eventually, the mechanical whirring stops abruptly, a small jolt shaking the elevator as it touches the ground. The doors open, although it’s really just a door in the wall of the courtroom-the ‘elevator’ doesn’t have anything like that-it’s just a flat platform. The light that comes flooding in is intense, all too bright and all too sudden in comparison to the absolute darkness that previously filled the space.

Covering his eyes against the brightness on reflex, Koga takes a moment before dropping his hand, eyes still narrowing and watering slightly at the influx of light. He can see the major details of the room just fine, however, and he’s equally astonished and confused at the same time. The room seems to have taken on the decor of a stereotypical Ancient Greek or Roman temple, complete with carved white pillars, larger-than-life statues of what seems like gods and goddesses, and elaborate burning torches on the walls in between the pillars.

However, there’s also a rather creepy aspect of the room having this theme, and it has to do with the statues. Instead of the usual portraits in the place of each person deceased, there’s life-sized statues of them, made out of what appears to be white marble. The statues are nothing short of downright fucking creepy, the level of detail entirely too high for Koga to be remotely comfortable as he takes his usual place, now with a statue of Adonis on one side.

At least the statues have broken the freezing silence in the room, people beginning to point and look at the marble figures with a general look of being completely disturbed. Koga manages to keep his mouth shut, staring at the Adonis statue in slight horror. The talking goes on for another moment, before there’s a small, robotic sounding cough and the room falls dead silent once more.

“I see you all are enjoying my new additions. However, did anyone care to notice the other difference about this room?” Mademoiselle looks rather pleased with herself, small hands neatly folded in her lap as she gives the room her usual small smile. Koga’s eyes dart around the room, trying to find a change before he settles on the spot directly in front of Mademoiselle. There’s a stretch of empty space, not filled by people or statues but rather just air, large enough for a few people to stand.

“Our final additions to this game have been, unfortunately...detained.” Mademoiselle begins. “However, I expect that they will be arriving sometime in the next twenty-four hours.” A slightly familiar sense of dread settles in Koga’s mind-more people means more murder. He’s not the most peaceful person, that’s for sure and he knows it, but he’s not the type of person to be into this kind of reckless killing.

Sure, Koga is fairly certain he knows who the people will be. He’s actually been wondering why they were fortunate enough to escape this mess, if they were the ones behind this-but it seems that they aren’t safe either. He’s sure he isn’t the only one who has doubts, but nothing can be done for the time being, right?

“That’s enough. We must find whoever killed Nito and Otogari.” Koga’s been so distracted by the absence of Adonis that he’s almost forgotten that Nazuna was killed too. However, the words that Shu seems to spit out, strong and stern and dripping venom that seems to be the opposite of his normal demeanor around crowds, reminds the second-year of that fact-and, what he heard Shu say about Eichi earlier.

The only thing that makes Eichi seem a little less suspicious is the fact that the killer seems to have killed Adonis and Nazuna by slamming them over the head with a garden shovel-a feat that the physically weak Eichi would surely find difficult to do once, let alone twice.

“Tenshouin, I suggest that you confess now.” Eichi raises an eyebrow when Shu continues. The Valkyrie member looks serious, his eyes alive and angry, while Eichi looks on with a small smile despite the situation.

“Are you suggesting I killed them? Surely, I am too weak for that.” Eichi proposes. Shrugging slightly, the blonde coughs into his arm, his face turning pained for a swift second before it returns to the usual, mostly neutral, slightly positive expression instead.

“I am sure you had your ways. You always do, am I wrong? At least, my experience tells me a selfish ‘emperor’ like you must always have his way. Your reign of terror ends here, Tenshouin. Ah, it will be so satisfying to see you finally crushed to pieces.”

“H-he’s right! Give it up, ya bully of an emperor! Y-ya had this comin’, right?” Mika is quick to jump to Shu’s defense, although knowing the boy, it’s not much of a surprise. His voice is shaking, but he seems to be trying to look Eichi in the eyes nonetheless. Shu sends Mika a look that sends the younger boy flinching back, but he doesn’t move his eyes,

‘Kagehira said it correctly. You only set yourself up for destruction, Tenshouin. This was inevitable.” Shu opens his mouth to say more, but he’s cut off by another voice, one closer to Koga.

“Shu, your suspicions might be correct, but don’t go accusing people randomly. Unfortunately, a situation like this calls for evidence.” It’s flat-out weird to hear Rei defending Eichi, sort of, but he’s not exactly wrong. After all, if they convict the wrong person it’s game over, for everyone. And while Eichi may appear to be a heartless bastard, surely even he would be a slight bit panicked over the thought of dying-if that could even scare him anymore. The group falls silent once more, and Koga begins to wonder just how many of them were suspicious of Eichi. Of course, it’s not a possibility that can completely be ruled out, but it’s still a fairly unlikely outcome at this point.

“What’s takin’ ya so long, bastards? Hurry up and talk!” So, apparently Koga’s going to have to take over this round. The thought of almost leading the way of a trial, especially considering Koga knows he’s not the brightest person around, is nerve-wracking-if this goes wrong, then everyone is dead. Nonetheless, he’s determined to avenge Adonis and catch his killer.

“Why don’t you start with the weapon, then? Do you know what it was?” Koga’s rarely heard Eichi talk this way-an unfamiliar, almost cold tone that sends a reluctant shiver down his spine. It's condescending to the core. 

“Yea I do!” he insists, reaching for the ID card in his pocket. Luckily for Koga, he didn’t lose his card, unlike Arashi in the last trial. He fumbles with the device for a moment before pulling up the photo of the shovel he’d found in the shed.

“I found it in the garden shed or somethin’,” he explains, holding the photo out. There’s no doubt in his mind that it’s the weapon-not with the amount of blood he saw on the shovel, and leading to the shed.

“M-Mitsuru-kun and I can second that.” Hajime speaks softly, from a bit of the way around the circle. “We saw the blood in front of the shed, although we didn’t go in…” he trails off, his eyes and face still looking blank. The loss of Nazuna must have really shocked him.

Fortunately, this is the easy part. No one seems to be able to come up with anything that can counter Koga’s photo, or suggest the existence of another weapon. Koga slides the ID back into his pocket despite the fact that he might need it later, and waits a moment to see if anyone has a counter-argument.

“Oh, there’s also that note from the Student Council Room.” Kaoru breaks the silence, pulling something from his pocket. It’s the familiar, thin piece of paper, folded into quarters. “It’s asking someone to meet the writer in the Student Council Room at midnight. That’s all it says.” The blonde moves to put the letter away, but stops halfway, turning and handing it to the person next to him.

“Does anyone recognize the handwriting?”

“Eichi?!” Koga jumps at the sudden yell, turning to face the source of the noise. It’s Keito, looking surprised and angry as he stares down the aforementioned third-year, note in hand. Eichi smiles that same knowing, almost mocking smile, turning his head to meet Keito’s stare.

“Those were ink stains on your desk, correct? You told me you had no part in this.” Koga almost yells out that this is what someone gets for trusting Eichi in the first place, but holds the sharp comment back. This conversation looks like it’s going somewhere, so it would be a shame to break everyone’s train of thought with a reaction like that.

“I told you I never killed anyone. That’s all.” Eichi shrugs-it’s almost amazing how someone who’s clearly so near death can remain so apathetic about everything. Although, if Eichi is saying didn’t kill someone, does that mean he had someone kill Nazuna and Adonis for him? It certainly does fit with what Koga would assume he has of a selfish nature.

“So you are responsible for this!” Shu looks positively furious, and Mika is looks up at the third year as if he’s worried he’ll have to restrain Shu in case he tries to jump out at Eichi. Admittedly, that would be kind of amusing.

“Responsible, I suppose that’s the correct word. However, I did not kill anyone. You’ll just have to believe me on that.” Eichi sounds nothing but serious when he speaks. The room goes silent for a moment, before another voice speaks up.

“If he’s not the killer, than who is?” Mao looks from Eichi, the around the remainder of the circle quickly. “It has to be someone close to Tenshouin-someone who would obey his every word.”

“Isara-kun, don’t jump to conclusions.” Hokuto is quick to remind the red-haired boy, although he looks a bit skeptical himself. “There is still a lot more evidence to go over.” Mao nods, and remains silent.

“So we know that Tenshouin asked someone to meet them at midnight in the Student Council Room, and that the killer used a shovel to kill both of the victims. Are there any clues as to who that killer could be?” Mao asks.

“It was someone from fine.” Keito is definite in his rapid answer. “Fushimi, you spoke of a ‘meeting’ with Eichi that you and the rest of fine had. Can you elaborate?” Yuzuru looks confused for a moment, before nodding.

“Yesterday, in the middle of the day, Tenshouin-sama, asked the three of us to meet him in his room. It was a small meeting, just about the condition of his health.” Well, that doesn’t help at all. Unless Yuzuru was lying about that meeting, but that would also mean he was the killer. Was he someone who was willing to lay down his life for Eichi? Koga wasn’t exactly sure. Then again, it was possible all of fine was in on this plan, meaning all of them had kept perfectly silent about a double murder they knew everything about.

“So, the meeting at midnight was not related? Thank you.” Keito seems a bit disappointed that this didn’t bring up anymore evidence. “Although, how did you come upon the tunnel in the auditorium?”

Wait. What tunnel? Koga was certain he hadn’t seen anything of the like when he had been in the auditorium during his investigation, looking for a possible murder weapon.

“Ah, when the young master, Hibiki-sama, and I were in the auditorium, Hibiki-sama pointed it out to us so that we would not fall in.” So that means Wataru already knew about the thing in the auditorium? That explains how Eichi would know about it at least. However, the majority of the people here still don’t know what Yuzuru and Keito are talking about-schools don’t normally have hidden tunnels in them, after all.

“Please allow me to explain, I am aware not everyone knows what we are talking about. There appears to be a hidden tunnel underneath our school. It begins on the stage of the auditorium, and goes through the antimatter bomb room, coming out at the entrance of the dormitory building. Essentially, it is a way to travel the campus while remaining hidden.” To say that’s important information is at least a complete understatement. Mostly, because it has to have been someone who knew about the tunnel who used it-right now, that seems to be fine and Keito at the very least.

So basically, whoever the killer is used that tunnel to get to the dormitory and clean off or hide after they committed their crimes, right? That means the killer has to have known about the tunnel, at least prior to this trial beginning. At least the tunnel, once explained, is pretty straightforward-

“Wait a minute.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> eichi wyd  
> well, half of the next chapter is done so that's good i guess  
> even though the culprit is probably so painfully obvious by now  
> hopefully i'll have time to do some writing soon  
> thanks for reading!
> 
> twitter @squirrellissa


	21. 3-7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> No, there’s no doubt in Keito’s mind that the culprit could be anyone else.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> it's time to kill some more boys  
> this might need a bit of editing but??? i've been studying for bio for like three hours and i just want to post this i'm very very exhausted.

“Wait a minute.”

Keito’s head follows the voice instinctively, eyes landing on Hokuto. The second-year looks half intrigued, and half straight up confused as he stands still, arms crossed loosely.

“I’ve never heard of this tunnel until today. How did that masked pervert know about this tunnel?” The second-year’s question takes a moment to sink in, but it only serves to fortify the conclusion that’s currently forming in Keito’s head-that the culprit is Wataru.

It’s what makes the most sense enough at the moment-he’s certainly tall enough to hit Adonis upside the head with a shovel, and he’s incredibly close to Eichi. The fact that he knows about the tunnel, and the small, mangled bird (it looked kind of like one of the ones Wataru likes to summon from the depths of his jacket, or something) only adds to that suspicion. No, there’s no doubt in Keito’s mind that the culprit could be anyone else. Surely, calling him out will make things get ugly, if Eichi has any say in it, but there’s no other way.

“Actually, I would like to expand on that question. In general, Hibiki seems to be quite suspicious...it is unfortunate to accuse someone based off of so little evidence, but I think what we have is sufficient enough.” Even if Wataru may consider Keito his greatest rival, Keito can’t find the words to directly accuse Wataru-probably out of fear of setting Eichi off.

The blonde picks up on the meaning behind Keito’s words with a slightly pained smile nonetheless, the expression causing a strange dissonance in Keito’s mind. Does this mean he’s right? There’s no doubt that Eichi was behind this without actually killing someone, so if he truly did use Wataru to kill someone....

Well, Keito wouldn’t put it past Eichi, per se, but it’s not the first thing he’d expect either.

“Keito, are you suggesting that, under my orders, my beloved fool murdered two people?” Eichi’s voice is near emotionless, although that could just be from exhaustion and illness. The blonde really is on his way out after all-he looks moments away from death’s door.

“Yes.” Keito breathes out a sigh, looking from Eichi to Wataru. The oddball looks uncharacteristically surprised, almost in a betrayed kind of way-is he not going to try to evade his own demise? It seems rather uncharacteristic for him to not use his theatrical antics to turn the attention away from how suspicious he is. Or maybe, Eichi told him not to fight it-the blonde really was setting him up after all, wasn’t he?

Eichi’s laugh is small, faint, and quickly fades into a coughing fit before he fixes himself and looks around the circle once.

“Your majesty, is this it?” Count on the actor to sound completely unafraid even at a time like now. As annoying as he theatrics are, Keito has to give him kudos for remaining completely calm, or so it seems. Eichi looks at Wataru for a moment, before nodding, his eyes shut tightly.

 

“It is as Keito suspects. I commanded my fool to kill those two, and he did just as I asked.” Eichi smiles, almost genuinely, as he continues. “I’m proud of you.” If that’s not even a little bit sadistic, then what is? Then again, Eichi’s surely known for having his own sadistic streak, isn’t he?

“Students, I think now is a good time to commence out voting session. Please use the screens in front of you to cast your vote.” Mademoiselle looks down apathetically from her throne, the screens in front of everyone flickering to life. The room is silent except for the nearly inaudible sound of fingers on the touchscreens, and after about a minute passes, the screens fall dark again.

Mademoiselle smiles a little, the wall behind her lighting up with a projection of a slots machine. It’s still got the same spinning heads, and sure enough, all three of the columns land on the cartoonish drawing of Wataru’s head.

“Congratulations, you are correct.” That’s all Mademoiselle really needs to say-it’s kind of a surprise that they could reach a conclusion based off of this little evidence, but after Eichi confirmed what happened, it’s pretty hard to deny the truth.

“Eichi, is this what you meant when you said you’d have the situation ‘taken care of’?” Keito can’t stop the question it’s been sitting heavy in the back of his minds all day, and he wants the answer now. Eichi merely half-shrugs, half-nods in response, before stepping away from his place, taking a few steps to where Wataru stands, looking abnormally apathetic.

“You’ve served me very well. I couldn’t have asked for a better left-hand man.” Eichi pauses and takes a deep breath, before biting his lip and muttering, much more quietly, “I’ll see you again soon, no?” There’s no use in pretending Eichi’s not going to die-if his condition doesn’t take care of him, then someone is certain to take advantage of his physical weakness and off in a split second.

“Bastard! Ya killed ‘em just because ya were worried about the bomb?” Koga’s foot slams down so hard that the ground shakes. “They weren’t ever a threat to ya, were they?!” EIchi turns to face the second-year, a slightly twitchy smile masking impatience, and speaks.

“Consider the alternative.” Koga falls silent for a minute, before rebutting with a still-angry, “But why them?”

“They were empowering my enemies.” Eichi takes a moment to smile at Shu, the Rei, and Shu and Mika visibly tense-Shu’s theory about Eichi killing others to harm the oddballs was actually correct, and that’s pretty damn insane. For once, it wasn’t just paranoid rambling. Shu says something to Mika, completely inaudible, and Mika nods hastily, his face a torn mix of confidence and shock.

“Now, don’t you think it’s time for your final play? Mademoiselle, if you would. I seem to have grown awfully tired.” Faking (?) a yawn, Eichi leans against one of the railings, watching with a slightly forlorn smile on his face as Wataru is led to his death by a small doll.

 

Execution: The Final Encore

The screen behind Mademoiselle’s chair flickers to life as per usual, bearing those words across. When the words fade, the screen cuts to Wataru standing on a stage. He seems to be monologuing-pacing back and forth, seemingly lost in his own world. Suddenly, the screen begins to shake, and one of the rows of light falls down from the ceiling above the stage. It doesn’t land on Wataru-he’s on the complete other side of the stage, but it’s pretty clear what’s going to happen next. 

Another light falls, although it only partially hits the lone figure on stage-he’s knocked to the ground, now sitting on the stage with a row of colorful lights pinning his legs to the ground. It’s then that Keito notices the ‘audience’ in the theater-it seems to be many versions of Mademoiselle, although the figures are only silhouettes, so he can’t be too sure.

One throws what appears to be a rose on the stage, and it lands near Wataru innocently. Then, another flower goes flying through the air. The display continues for a moment, brightly colored petals flying through the air, before Keito catches a quick glimpse of what looks like a rose, but has a distinct metallic shine to it.

It lands on the stage, glinting under the lights, before there’s a bright flash-that thing must have been a bomb of sorts, like a grenade. The camera feed goes slightly fuzzy, like the camera has been taken out of focus, before Keito can tell that the screen is zooming in, closer and closer to the stage.

Sure enough, there’s a mess of assorted internal organs and body parts and blood that he really didn’t need to see. But that’s not all there is. Sitting on the stage with only a small touch of blood on the cheek and slightly singed bangs is Wataru’s head, a single red rose held in his mouth. How ironically dramatic.

The screen fades to black again, and the room is silent. Keito’s sure that the group is slowly becoming desensitized to all of the death happening around them, but that doesn’t make it any less bizarre to watch a schoolmate be murdered like it’s a scene from a play. While Keito isn’t too affected personally by the death of Wataru, he definitely feels a sense of pity for Eichi-he wasn’t completely sure of the extent of Eichi’s feelings for Wataru, but there was certainly something there-anyone with eyes could see it, unfortunately.

There was a small part of him that was possibly even relieved-it felt like Wataru was ‘out of the way’, but no, that’s not the time to be thinking this way. Especially when someone else is speaking. The third year tunes into Mao’s words as the second year begins to talk, turning his attention away from thoughts of the trial.

“If everyone could meet by the fountain in about fifteen minutes, it would be greatly appreciated. There’s something everyone needs to see.”

 

It’s late when they all meet at the fountain, but sure enough, everyone is there. It’s a bit chilly, the breeze that’s more of a wind threatening an incoming storm. There seems to be a large, blow up screen set up in front of the fountain, and Keito briefly wonders who found that, and where, before remembering that the school had an AV room, and a broadcasting committee, along with occasional movie nights, and therefore probably had equipment like this somewhere. There’s something being projected onto the screen, although it’s dark and blurry and just hard to see in general.

When the screen focuses again, Keito’s staring at a blown-up version of a menu that sends a shiver down his spine. There’s a strange sense of deja vu that comes from looking at it, although he can’ exactly say why he feels that way-he’s certain he’s never seen this screen before, in his entire life.

“We found a laptop with this unnamed program on it, and this is what happens when we opened the application,” Makoto explains, yelling over the increasing wind. Someone, probably Mao or Hokuto, is scrolling through the menus as if they’ve done this a million times before, before hovering over a file with the word ‘Executions’ written next to it.

“In this file is what he assume to be a video or videos of every single one of us, alive or not, killing someone close to us.”

The only sound around now is the howling of the wind, and the occasional cricket noise. Other than that, the area is dead silent. What Makoto just said...it’s not true, right? There’s absolutely no way it’s true. Sure, some people where could probably kill someone else and not sweat it, but someone like Hajime, or Mika? Keito struggles to think of one of them even daring to harm a bug.

There’s something loading on the screen now-it seems to be a video, although it sure is taking it’s time loading. While it does so, Mao makes his way to stand next to Makoto in front of the screen.

“We’ve found that everything in this program is related to something called ‘Project Revolution’.” He begins, the wind nearly drowning him out. “If anyone knows anything about Project Revolution, please, please, tell us. This may be a life or death matter here.”

There’s a small laugh from the back of the crowd, and Keito turns to see three figures, mostly hidden by the clouds overhead and the darkness of the night, illuminated by the thin sliver of moonlight peeking through the clouds and the dark red, artificial light coming off of the large projection screen.

“You haven’t ‘heard’ of ‘Project Revolution?” The one in the front asks, and Keito recognizes that voice. It’s one he’s almost forgotten about in the chaos of everything, but lo and behold, there it was.

“We can tell you, if you need us to.” Another one speaks.

“I can’t believe you didn’t know!” The third one speaks, and Keito’s certain of who these people are.

Just then, something glints in the moonlight-it’s a small metal pentagram, blowing in the wind. His eyes follow the shape up, and suddenly, the clouds have cleared enough for the moonlight to come in rather clearly-and right near him, are three faces of three people that have a lot of explaining to do.

CHAPTER 3: END  
SURVIVORS: Hokuto, Mao, Makoto, Rei, Koga, Kaoru, Mika, Shu, Hinata, Yuuta, Leo, Izumi, Arashi, Ritsu, Chiaki, Kanata, Midori, Tetora, Keito, Kuro, Mitsuru, Hajime, Natsume, Tsumugi, Sora, Eichi, Yuzuru, and Tori.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> rip wataru fans  
> someone called him out after the last chapter nice job buddy ( i don't remember who it was. oops)  
> aaaand, there they are  
> natsume is like my second fave i scored for him in the event and all so you know what that means  
> he's gonna suffer
> 
> thanks for reading!  
> twitter @squirrellissa


	22. 4-1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It seems the final three participants have arrived..

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello! i'm back with the blessing of a long weekend off from school  
> i was very hesitant to add switch in, but i think i've found a way to incorporate them in that will align with all of other plot points i set up  
> i think i'll be showing natsume's speech tick with 'single quotation marks', as bold text doesn't always carry over from google docs to ao3 for me

Koga narrows his eyes at the figures in the courtyard, a mere ten feet away. The voices are certainly familiar, there’s no doubting that, but he’s still not sure who they could belong to. From where he sits, the light isn’t hitting them enough for him to make out any distinct features,so he doesn’t even have anything to go off of to visually recognize the newcomers.

“Oi, bastard, where are you going?” The second-year noticies Rei standing up, and is about to follow him up, when a hand on his shoulder pushes Koga back down to the ground. He whips his head around so fast that he nearly knocks himself over, and takes a fast moment to steady himself before hissing at Kaoru under his breath.

“The fuck are ya doin’?” Koga crosses his arms, adjusting to sit more comfortably on the cool ground. Why the hell are they even outside anyways?

“It’s Switch, did you not figure it out? They’re probably having some oddball reunion.” Koga spins his head again, in time to see that there’s three other tall figures standing with the newcomers-one is Rei, and another has Kanata’s little hair...thing...so he can at least assume the last one is Shu.

“I wonder what they’ll tell him about…” Kaoru’s voice trails off. Right, about Wataru. Surely, the oddballs weren’t fond of fine, but Wataru had always seemed to be an exception to that rule. 

“How did we even get in this mess anyways? It’s seriously starting to stress me out.” Kaoru falls back dramatically, hands resting under the back of his head as he stares up, blankly.

“Starting!?” Koga tenses, surprised. “How is this shit only startin’ to stress ya out!? We’ve been trapped for weeks! People are dyin’, hell, our own unitmate’s fuckin’ dead!” The second year moves so he’s kneeling near Kaoru, glaring down with what he hopes is a menacing look that’s probably too tired to be anywhere near effective.

“Why do you think I’m worried now? It still didn’t feel ‘real’ to me. Now that one of us is...well, gone, it’s a whole lot more real, don’t you think?” Koga snaps back something along the lines of how thinking like that is probably what’s getting people killed in the first place, and turns his attention back towards the newcomers...right, Switch.

It seems the Oddball reunion is still going on-there’s only four figures standing there, so the other two members of Switch are presumably elsewhere. A shiver makes it’s way down Koga’s spine before he can stop it-part of him is just cold, but part of him doesn’t trust Switch-after all, how did they manage to evade this mess for so long? He falls silent, fairly annoyed and trying to think of why those assholes got special treatment up until now.

“What’s wrong? Are you upset that Sakuma-san is playing with someone besides you?” Kaoru messes up Koga’s hair more than it already is, just to annoy him. It is pretty funny to watch Koga get worked up at times, he’ll admit. 

“Nah. I heard he liked playin’ with you anyways.” Koga shoves Kaoru’s hand away, not meaning for that to be his response-he just wanted to sound neutral, like he didn’t really care, but instead he can practically hear Kaoru tense behind him.

“Hey, keep your damn voice down! That was a one-time thing, alright? You know I’m not into guys like that, right?” Koga converts all of his energy into not choking on his next breath, but he can’t hid a small laugh from Kaoru. He’d meant what he said as a joke, of course, merely getting back at Kaoru for annoying him, but that hadn’t been the answer he was expecting.

Oh, speak of the devil. Before Koga can come up with a remark, Rei is standing over the two of them. Switch seems to be sitting somewhere else, although it’s hard to tell who’s where when it’s still fairly dark out.

“Can everyone look up here, please?” Mao sounds exhausted, so tired that he can barely yell loud enough for everyone to hear him. Koga picks up on the voice nevertheless, remembering that this is why they’re all currently sitting outside. 

“We have a video to show you, about ‘Project Revolution’. We found it just now, so no one here has seen this video yet.” Mao explains. The wind has died down from where it was before Switch showed up, so it’s a bit easier to hear him now. The cursor on screen hovers over a video file titled ‘Project Revolution-Introduction’ for a few moments, before clicking. A small circle begins looping on the screen as the video loads, but it’s gone for a few seconds, replaced instead by a figure in a plain black hoodie and a gas mask, shown only from the waist. There’s absolutely no defining features on them, as far as Koga can tell.

“Welcome to Project Revolution.” A voice begins coming from the speakers on either side of the blow-up projection screen. “We’re a group of several people dedicated to exactly what you’d think-Revolution.” The figure on screen allows themselves a short laugh before continuing.

“I’m recording this video to give you, the members of Project Revolution, your first...assignment, I guess. Before you can officially be a member, I need to know that your loyalty to me, your leader, is greater than your loyalty to anyone or anything else.”

Oh no. That does not sound good.

“Your task is actually pretty easy. All you need to do is bring someone you care about greatly to our headquarters-you should all know where that is-and be willing to sacrifice them in my name. Do this simple task, and you’ll be all good to go!” The voice on-screen sounds way too cheery for someone who’s probably just sentenced a bunch of people to their deaths. Well, that is assuming whoever this video is addressing actually went through with the crazy notion of killing someone they cared about.

“Actually, wait, there’s one last thing.” The person on screen speaks again, their voice breaking the silence that settles across the area. “After you enter Project Revolution, you are to follow my orders, and my orders only. Any traitors will not be forgiven.” The video ends abruptly, the screen returning to what is probably the main menu of whatever computer app this is.

“We’re almost positive that video was addressed to us.” Mao announces. Koga notices, out of the corner of his eye, that whoever is at the computer is working their way to the folder from earlier, labelled ‘Executions’.

“There’s really no need to go into detail, but we believe that this video was addressed to us.” Mao gestures to the screen, letting it speak for him. Under the ‘Executions’ tag, there’s at least several videos, and each person from the idol course, alive or dead, has at least one video named after them-several have two, and some have even more.

“If you want to see a video named after you, please, just talk to one of us tomorrow. It’s getting late and now really isn’t a good time for this.” What Mao’s trying to say is pretty clear, but it only makes everything else much more uncertain. If everyone did go through, and join this ‘Project Revolution’, then was that video Mademoiselle showed them, all the way before the first trial, something that had actually happened? Something they’d done?

But most importantly, why did no one remember even joining the group?

 

Eichi’s drifting in and out of consciousness when he hears the doorbell to his room go off. He wants to ignore it-he’s tired, and he feels even worse than he looks, but if someone has come to bother him this late at night, he might as well answer it. Trying not to drag his feet as he goes to answer the door, something out of habit if nothing else, and the third-year is surprised to see Tori standing there, hugging an oversized pillow to his body.

“Tori-kun, shouldn’t you be sleeping? It’s quite late, after all.” Tori doesn’t respond, which is unlike him-instead, he blinks up at Eichi, green eyes being dragged down with exhaustion. Eichi watches him for a moment, before the blonde has his breath completely knocked out out by a small, pink head hurdling towards him.

The third year stumbles back, but catches himself on slightly shaky legs, and in the silence that follows, while trying to catch his breath, Eichi can hear it-Tori sounds like he’s crying.

“Tori-kun, what’s the matter?” The words are hard to form when he’s still slightly out of breath, but Eichi can at least lift a hand to gently pat Tori on the head, trying to comfort him.

“Kaichou, are you going to die?” Tori presses his face further against Eichi, his words muffled slightly. The question comes as a bit of a surprise to Eichi-surely, it was obvious to everyone that he wasn’t going to last more than a few days longer at this point.

Of course, he can’t tell Tori that-his precious, beloved Tori, who’s clearly already so worked up about him. It’s kind of nice to see a deviation from his normal selfish behavior-if he can grow to be more selfless, than he’ll make a great future Emperor.

“I’ll be fine, Tori-kun. You should go sleep, it’s been a long day, right?” He feels Tori’s head nod against his stomach, before it pulls back. The first-year’s eyes are red around the edges, and he rubs at them furiously before picking up the pillow he’d dropped while throwing himself at Eichi.

When Tori leaves, Eichi makes a mental note to speak to Yuzuru in the morning-it’s not necessarily a butler’s job to manage emotions, but surely, the second-year could have prevented Tori from coming to Eichi’s room in the middle of the night.

Aside from being half-asleep when Tori showed up, Eichi had also been thinking- about the video from today, and the situation as a whole. Of course, there was a sense of guilt in him for sentencing Wataru to his death; but that was something that had to be done for everyone’s sake, not just his own.

 

“Natsume-kun, do you have a room to stay in?”

Natsume’s eyes move to the clock in Rei’s room-the third-year having spent the past hour explaining the situation to him-and sees that it’s grown quite late. While he knows that Rei won’t necessarily sleep, that’s probably not a bad idea from him, given the circumstances.

“Did Wataru-niisan die for that ‘emperor’?” Natsume barely hears the question aimed at him. He can’t stop the disbelief from seeping into his voice. Eichi’s obsession over Wataru had always been apparent, but Natsume was never able to tell if it was a mutual feeling or not. He’d been rather surprised when Rei had told him-he didn’t expect something like that to be hidden from him, he was surprised at the fact that one of the ‘five oddballs’ would lay down their life for a dying emperor like that.

Rei nods, but doesn’t say anything more on that topic.

“What do you know about ‘Project Revolution’?”

There’s the question Natsume’s been waiting for.

He’s been hearing about the group and their deeds everywhere-how could he not have, considering he attended the school where the incidents occurred, and the fact that everything was being reported everywhere, left and right. Reliable news sources, television, even the tabloids all had a few things (or more) to say about the ‘revolution’.

“A group of students attempted to overthrow their school system by killing everyone else that 'attended'.” That’s probably the simplest way to explain it.

“Although, they disappeared and have not been seen 'since'.” Truth be told, Natsume didn’t really know what had happened to everyone else in the idol course until today, when he’d been woken up by a familiar blonde doll and told to make his way down the school’s fountain with Tsumugi and Sora.

It had been easy to tell that not everyone was there-not a surprise to him-but he was relieved to see his former oddball companions nonetheless. Well, three of them, at least.

“I don’t know everyone who was ‘involved’. I just know it involved a specific group of students at Yumenosaki.”

“Natsume-kun, this isn’t a good time for riddles. Who was involved?”

The second year can’t help but flinch at the slightly sharp edge to Rei’s voice: a familiar edge, one that reminds him of his first year at Yumenosaki, before that frail ‘emperor’ had taken over and turned everything to shit. Of course, he couldn’t say that, unless he wanted to listen to Tsumugi talk about how great of a person ‘Eichi-kun’ was for hours on end. Surely, he could talk about his dislike of Eichi with Rei, but now wasn't really the time for that topic.

Nonetheless, he was never completely sure who was involved. Yes, the idol course played a large part, but they were not the only people working to overthrow the school system, for sure.

“All I know for certain is that the revolution began in the idol 'course'.”

“You’re not sure what happened after that?”

Natsume shakes his head no, staring at the clock again and resisting the urge to yawn. It’s almost 2 in the morning now, he should really be going now.

“Goodnight. I will see you in the ‘morning’.” Natsume stands to leave, quickly, eyelids heavy and the darkness of Rei’s room only serving to amplify that feeling. Hopefully, tomorrow, he’ll be able to speak with the remainder of the oddballs as a whole, and fill them in on everything he truly knows.

Hopefully.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> EDIT: I went back and fixed natsume's speech. thank you to everyone who told me how to write it properly!
> 
> thanks for reading!  
> twitter @squirrellissa


	23. 4-2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Midori stops for a second, seemingly trying to phrase his thoughts properly. “They agreed that I’d be the best person to kill off.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> wow this chapter covers a lot  
> like the ending is kind of inevitable but. it covers a lot in a small space so i hope it turned out ok!

The night passes rather uneventfully-well, no one dies, at least. Chiaki wakes up early, as he always does, and is grateful to the be the first person to breakfast once again, without seeing any dead bodies. After literally walking into Nazuna and Adonis yesterday, he figured it might be a good idea to not drag Midori along, at least for one day.

The other early risers trail in not long after him, only a few short minutes after the wake-up announcement has gone off. Namely, the group consists of Mao, Hokuto, Keito, Tsukasa (before his death), and Yuzuru, although Nazuna, Shu and Subaru sometimes come in early as well. By the time the last people-Rei and Ritsu, as per usual-have shown, the room is fairly lively, filled with the sounds of people talking and laughing as if nothing is wrong. In fact Chiaki finds himself falling into the same pattern of those around him, before he turns to say something to Shinobu absentmindedly and-right, Shinobu’s long gone.

He’s heard people talk about the fear of desensitization when it comes to things like violence and murder, but he’s never actually felt it-well, at least not until now. Now, however, he sort of understands what people mean by desensitization. It’s weird-he feels like the fact that there were three more deaths yesterday should have a greater impact on him, but it’s just...not. He doesn’t want to say he’s used to the happenings, but there’s really no other way to explain it.

“Takamine, are you awake?” Chiaki pokes his junior’s shoulder a few times, gently, trying to get his attention. The younger boy is staring straight ahead, his eyes unfocused and dull. He doesn’t look well-maybe he didn’t get enough sleep last night? Whatever the problem is, Chiaki is determined to get it out of him.

Or maybe, he’s having some kind of depression spell? Chiaki can remember what that felt like, vaguely-enough to understand what’s probably going through Midori’s head right now. It’s a little upsetting-as a hero, he does want to protect Midori, but the hardest thing to protect a person from is themselves. After a moment, Midori nods, wordlessly, and goes back to eating silently. Still slightly worried, Chiaki makes a mental note to talk with him later and try to figure out what’s happening.

At the same time, Mika finds himself talking to Arashi about Adonis. She’s still upset-and rightfully, so, Mika thinks. He can tell she’s been crying-there are shadows under her eyes that look more like they’re from the black pigment of makeup than just a lack of sleep. Well, that’s probably happening and not helping her as well, now that Mika thinks about it. Arashi seems like the type of person to lose sleep over emotional matters.

After a few minutes of talking, it seems like Arashi is doing better. It’s kind of weird-she seemed to cheer up rather quickly. Mika himself doesn’t even feel particularly upset, despite the loss ox Nazuna. It stings, certainly, but it’s almost as if he’d been expecting it? No, that’s the wrong word, but he can’t figure out what the right one is. It’s not like he’s someone who’s unemotional, or not upset easily, after all. He can’t exactly pinpoint why he doesn’t feel so upset, but he’s glad for that-if he had a reason, he’d probably feel even more guilty than he already does.

But no, here Arashi is, clearly trying her hardest to hold back tears, chewing on her bottom lip and picking at her nails in a way that she would scold anyone else for doing. Something about it Mika finds ironic, in a twisted sense-because it always seems like he’s the upset one, and Arashi always cheers him up. There’s a new sense of appreciation he suddenly has for the blonde-being on her side certainly isn’t easy.

After Arashi seems to have calmed down a bit, Mika ends up changing the subject-he asks Arashi a trivial question, giving her a couple of compliments as well-really, anything to cheer her up, before Arashi says something that slightly surprises Mika. At least, he’s not sure how to respond to it, as opposed to being surprised.

“Sorry for dumping all of that on you, Mika-chan. I’m sure losing Nazuna-chan wasn’t easy for you either.” Mika doesn’t respond verbally-he just nods, because he’s not really sure what to say to that. She’s right, but he doesn’t want to make her feel like she was being ignorant of his feelings-that won’t make either of them feel better, right? Knowing Arashi, it might make her upset again, and Mika really doesn’t want to see that happen.

He knows that Shu is upset as well-he’s sitting with Kuro right now, the latter seemingly trying to talk him out of his mind. All Mika can do is wish Kuro good luck-he’s never been great at confrontation, and an emotional Shu isn’t something he wants to meddle with when he could make it worse. Mika’s about to turn to Arashi and say something to her, just to change the subject, when a sudden voice interrupts the silence.

“If could please have your attention, everyone.”

Mika feels his heart leap into his throat from his chest at the cold, feminine, robotic voice. It’s Mademoiselle, no doubt-but what business does she have now? There was a trial yesterday, surely, it can’t be time for another motive. That would be far too cruel-then again, whoever’s behind this whole mess doesn’t seem like they feel obligated to follow any morals whatsoever.

“Everyone is required to meet in the room where you first arrived at 9:30 sharp. Failure to comply will result in punishment. Thank you.”

When Mademoiselle leaves, the room is dead silent once again. There’s no way she’s not going to give another motive-but what will happen this time? Surely, they’re past the point of being affected by motives, but there’s no telling what could be pulled on them this time. Hopefully, Mika tells himself, they’ll be able to go some time without anyone dying. Then, they’d have a chance to learn more about their situation and try to figure out who trapped them here in the first place.

 

In the end, everyone ends up going to the meeting. It’s not like they have a choice anyways-they’ll likely die or be punished otherwise if they don’t. Chiaki finds himself staying close to Midori, the first-year still looking slightly dazed and remaining silent. He didn’t even flinch when Mademoiselle entered the room, despite the doll closing the room’s door loudly behind her.

“Thank you all for following my instructions.” Mademoiselle begins. Behind here are two small containers, made out of clear, black-tinted glass. Inside of the containers, which are about the size of a large water bottle, but with a wider diameter, seems to be several small slips of paper. The blonde doll moves to stand next to the bottle on the left, gesturing to it with her arm.

“First, please take a slip of paper from this jar. After that, take one from the second jar as well. I will explain the paper’s contents in a moment.” After a few silent moments of everyone awkwardly shuffling around the room, Chiaki finds his spot next to Midori again, papers in hand. He can see now that they’re larger than he originally thought-they’re folded in quarters. The paper in his left hand, from the left jar, reads ‘Section 10, Shelf 1’, and the second one reads ‘2-A’.

The words on the papers don’t seem to have any correlation-not as far as Chiaki can tell, anyways. He doesn’t actually know what ‘Section 10, Shelf 1’ is referring to-it seems like something relating to an organization system. ‘2-A’ is probably class 2-A, which makes a bit more sense.

“Please allow me to explain. Both of these papers contain unique locations on them. In one of these locations, you will find...valuable information on one of your fellow classmates. In the other, you will find a weapon. I, personally, think that what comes next is quite self-explanatory, no?”

“Valuable information?” Chiaki hears Keito, ever the sceptic, speak from behind him.

“Ah, ‘valuable information’. I think you will understand.” There’s a brief pause, before Mademoiselle speaks again. “Now, if there are no more questions, I will be leaving. I expect to see everyone soon.” The very implication of that last phrase sends a slight chill down Chiaki’s spine-whatever this ‘valuable information’ is, it’s definitely not something good.

Everyone seems to leave the room rather quickly-it’s probably for the best that they find the locations they’ve been given, lest they have a kind of disadvantage when it comes to motivation. However, before Midori can get too far away, Chiaki catches back up to him, grabbing him lightly by the shoulder and ready to find out what’s been on his junior’s mind all morning.

“Nothing’s wrong, Morisawa-senpai.” Before Chiaki can even ask his question, Midori forces the hand off of his shoulder and continues walking, not waiting for Chiaki. Blinking back his shock, Chiaki takes a few, fast steps to catch back to to Midori, grabbing his shoulder harder this time.

“I can tell you’re lying, Takamine. That’s not going to help you here.” Chiaki can almost see thoughts fighting in Midori’s head, the look in his eyes changing multiple times before he sighs, looking at the ground and nudging a small pebble across the ground with his foot.

“I overheard some people talking last night. About who they would kill next, if need be.” Midori stops for a second, seemingly trying to phrase his thoughts properly. “They agreed that I’d be the best person to kill off.”

Chiaki feels his heart freeze, in both anger and worry. Even so, Midori being this upset seems a bit strange-Chiaki feels incredibly guilty for thinking this way, but if Midori’s always talking about wanting to die, then why does the thought of his death suddenly upset him so much? There’s probably something more to this problem, something that Midori doesn’t want to say-which is concerning for a whole number of reasons.

“That’s not the worst part,” Midori quickly adds, almost as if he’s sensed Chiaki’s doubts. “They said that they’d do it so I wouldn’t drag you down anymore. So you could be more of a help to the ‘escape cause’.” Chiaki’s head nearly spins at that. Kill Midori...for him? How would that help anything.?

“I want to die…” Midori sighs, crossing his arms. “Am I really that much of a burden, Morisawa-senpai?” Damn, whoever Midori heard must have really hurt him. Chiaki’s spent so much time trying to make Midori feel like he’s not a burden, so how could all of that be undone by a few careless sentences?

“Of course not, Takamine!” Chiaki’s response is loud and instantaneous-Midori’s last syllable has hardly left his mouth before Chiaki answers. “Who made you think that way?” Calm down, Chiaki, he has to tell himself. Feeling his grip on Midori’s shoulder tightening, Chiaki drops his hand to his side, curling and uncurling a couple of fists until he feels a bit more level-headed.

Midori shakes his head no, refusing to name a name-and maybe that’s for the best. Chiaki tells himself he’d never kill anyone, that’s damn stupid-but he’s been feeling himself grow so protective over Midori, especially in this situation, that his judgement might get clouded should something happen to Midori. No, he can’t think like that. There’s a way out of this situation-he doesn’t know what is it, exactly-but it’s not killing others, that’s for sure.

“Come on, let’s go find these places!” Chiaki holds out his slips of paper, nearly dropping them in his rush to pull them out of his pocket. “A hero can never fall behind in his duties! Surely, this ‘valuable information’ will help us greatly!” All but pulling Midori towards the school, Chiaki’s not really sure where he’s supposed to be going, but there’s gotta be somewhere in the school that applies to at least one of them. For now, he’s just trying (rather desperately) to change the subject.

Chiaki remembers, at the school’s entrance, that one of his locations was ‘2-A’, and the only 2-A he can think of is the school’s classroom for class 2-A. Sure enough, when he gets there, there’s a very obvious gun sitting on the middle desk of the classroom’s front row.

“Morisawa-senpai, is that for you?” Midori stands in the doorway, looking at the gun suspiciously and refusing to walk any further. Chiaki, who’s now standing at the desk with the gun nods, picking the weapon up. It’s pretty standard, black and hard plastic, although he notices something written across the barrel of the gun. Small, but definitely there, in shiny gold characters, is his name. There’s no doubt that this gun was meant for anyone but him, then.

Chiaki does find a bit of relief in seeing that his name is written on the gun. If his name is on a weapon, then that should mean everyone else’s weapon probably has a name on it as well-which could be useful in the event of another murder. He dreads the thought of another murder, though, so hopefully the situation won’t come to that. Gun in hand, he turns towards Midori, before remembering that he probably shouldn’t walk straight at someone with a gun in his hand. Finding a way to get the gun into his front pocket (hopefully it’s not loaded), Chiaki looks out into the hallway-it’s empty.

“Alright, Takamine. Where to next?”

 

Late that night, around midnight, Keito finds himself still awake. He’s not really sure why-putting up with an Eichi who refuses to rest for his own good has made him quite exhausted, but there’s still something him in the back of his mind.

Something feels..strange, about this motive. Not only was it introduced so soon after the previous trial, but he almost feels as if it’s made to target certain people. The ‘valuable information’ consisted of someone’s secret-things they’d said or done that could villainize them. Each set of information came in a small black folder, with the name of the person whose secrets were contained in the folder written on it in small, gold writing. Keito had gotten Mao’s folder-it didn’t really provide him with a motive to do anything, considering the worst thing Mao had ever done was forget to buy his sister a birthday present one year.

For some reason, Eichi had also given Keito his file-it was currently sitting in his room, next to Mao’s. It was Rei’s folder, although, after spending time in a unit with Rei, most of the information was things Keito already knew, or could have easily assumed based on his former personality. The new Rei he’d grown used to was nothing like the much more chaotic person he’d known in the past, so there wasn’t much he could have done to have secrets recorded nowadays.

It’s probably the fact that Eichi gave him the folder that’s bothering Keito-surely, Eichi saw Rei as at least something of an enemy, and therefore would kill to have secret information on him. Not that it was useful in this situation-there was no media to report it to, no flashing cameras and annoying reporters buzzing around with the latest ‘scandals’. Nevertheless, he knew Eichi wasn’t always above gossiping-surely he’d at least want to keep ‘secrets’ with him.

Yea, that’s definitely the thing bothering him the most. Is Eichi expecting something to happen to him. Keito knows that he can’t watch over Eichi all of the time-that’s impossible, and sometimes things are going to happen that he doesn’t like. But, considering Eichi’s current condition, Keito had a feeling in the back of his mind that Eichi gave him the folder because things weren’t looking too good on the blonde’s end.

Letting out a small sight, Keito closes his eyes for what feels like the millionth time. He decides that he’ll check up on Eichi when he wakes up, and ask him why the blonde decided to give him Rei’s folder. Who knows-Eichi will probably just give him some bullshit answer, but Keito knows himself too well-he’ll probably believe it anyways. With that plan in mind, Keito finally finds himself falling asleep, even though concern for Eichi’s well-being still lingers in the back of his mind.

Well, he’s almost asleep, again, when a sharp bell sound resounds through his room. The doorbell-who would be ringing it at this hour. Half-asleep and against his better judgement, Keito decides to go to the door, and to see who’s there. Hopefully, nothing big has happened-although a mysterious visitor in the middle of the night doesn’t exactly scream ‘no big deal’.

Stumbling through the dark room without his glasses is a bit of a task, and by the time Keito makes his way to the door, he makes a mental apology to his shins and toes for all the things he definitely just walked into, and will probably walk into again on his way back to bed. The door opens smoothly, so there’s no one standing in front of it, and Keito looks down the hallway both ways, squinting to try to see better. He really should have at least tried to find his glasses.

Unfortunately, there’s no one there-was he hearing things? No, that’s not right, the situation hasn’t gotten to him that much, not yet. But then, who was ringing his doorbell in the middle of the night? Surely, whoever was there had a reason for doing so, right? Maybe, during breakfast, he’ll be able to ask around and figure out if it was an accident, or if he just took so long stumbling through the dark that whoever was at his door gave up and left.

 

The next morning, breakfast comes and goes with no new information. Keito’s been asking around, but no one has confessed to ringing his doorbell in the middle of the night-something he expected, but he isn’t too happy about. After a short discussion, everyone decides that bringing their folders to the cafeteria and sharing what’s in them is the best-if everyone’s secrets are out there, then no one has an advantage. Sure, some people’s secrets are probably worse than others, but that’s a risk they’re willing to take.

When Keito gets to his room, he grabs both of the folders without thinking, before the presence of Rei’s folder in addition to Mao’s triggers something in his mind. That’s right, he hadn’t checked up on Eichi when he woke up! In fact, Keito doesn’t even recall seeing the blonde at breakfast-he assumed that Eichi was sleeping in, if he wasn’t feeling.

Still the fact that Eichi hadn’t turned up well past 9 am meant that something could be up. And, the longer no one did anything, the longer that ‘something’ could become a problem. Folders in hand, Keito walks the short distance to Eichi’s room and rings the doorbell, waiting a few seconds for a response before trying again.

Feeling his heart leap into his throat-it’s not like Eichi to sleep in this late, or to ignore someone blatantly trying to get his attention, the third-year reaches into his pocket for his ID card. He doesn’t want to break into his friend’s room, but there’s no other way if he wants to make sure that Eichi is alright.

Even though his hands are shaking slightly (calm down, everything's fine, you’re just paranoid), Keito manages to get the door opened with relative ease. The first thing that he notices about the room is that it’s cold-freezing almost, if the blast of air that greets him when he opens the door is anything to go by. He can still hear the soft whirring of the room’s air conditioning-how low did Eichi have the thermostat set? Did the idiot freeze himself to death? No, that would probably take a temperature at least a little colder than this.

He also notices that the room is bright-all of the lights are on, despite the bright light flowing in from the windows, which are fully exposed. Keito’s eyes dart around the room a few quick times before-oh no. That is not what he thinks it is.

Heartbeat back in his throat, Keito carefully sets the folders he’s been carrying on the floor, before taking a few more steps into Eichi’s room. The blonde is sitting at his desk, but he’s slumped over at a weird angle, his head resting on one hand and the same arm bending in a position that does not look natural or comfortable by any definition of the word.

He could totally be sitting at his desk, casually, Keito thinks, before his eyes start to find the various bruises and scratches covering Eichi’s skin-he can see more on his arm, the sleeve rolled up, than he can see on his face, but there’s definitely a good amount of wounds on Eichi’s pale skin. It looks like someone had a go at him-did Eichi not even try to fight back? No one at breakfast looked physically injured, at least that Keito could see.

Still trying to delude himself, Keito takes a few steps forward until he’s standing at Eichi’s desk. First, he taps the blonde on the shoulder a few times, then holds a hand in front of Eichi’s face to see if he’s breathing, when the taps generate no response. Feeling his erratic heartbeat come to a screeching halt in realization, Keito stares down at the figure in front of him, trying to process the obvious.

There’s no way around it-Eichi Tenshouin is dead.

SURVIVORS: Hokuto, Mao, Makoto, Rei, Koga, Kaoru, Mika, Shu, Hinata, Yuuta, Leo, Izumi, Arashi, Ritsu, Chiaki, Kanata, Midori, Tetora, Keito, Kuro, Mitsuru, Hajime, Natsume, Tsumugi, Sora, Yuzuru, and Tori.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yea we all saw that coming  
> rip eichi boy and rip me because this trial is gonna be a bitcH to write,,
> 
> twitter @squirrellissa


	24. 4-3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “I guess we have to investigate, don't we?” Ritsu yawns, stretching, but that doesn't mask the rare flare of energy in his eyes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello i'm not dead  
> i'm sorry this took so long!  
> hopefully the trial should be up soon because i am motivated once again

If nothing else, the look on Keito’s face when he comes rushing into the cafeteria way after everyone else says that something is definitely wrong. It’s a bit of a frightening thing to see-the third-year is normally so calm and composed, and seeing him be almost the polar opposite is quite disturbing.

 

Nonetheless, the problem is apparent-Eichi is nowhere to be seen. As far as Koga can tell, at least, that would be the problem. Wait, does that mean that Eichi is dead? If it does, then there will be another trial, and...great. It’s too damn soon for another person to be executed. Sure, Koga isn’t exactly a people person, but that doesn’t mean that watching people be executed, like they’re in a movie or something, is any fun.

 

From behind him, Koga hears Rei whisper a small ‘finally’ under his breath, followed by Kaoru telling him to shut up. Koga nearly grins despite himself- of course, Rei would be nothing but thrilled if Eichi actually is dead. Koga’s waiting for someone to ask Keito what’s really happened before the third-year answers the unspoken question on his own.

 

“Eichi’s dead.” Count on Keito to be blunt as ever (now that he’s regained his composure), even in a situation like this. His face betrays his emotions nonetheless; but his voice is cold, almost monotone. Despite the situation being quite obvious from the second Keito walked in the room, the confirmation of the fact that Eichi really is dead causes a wave of sound to rise up in the cafeteria.

 

Koga’s eyes trace the room a couple times, and it seems that a good deal of people seem to be somewhat...relieved? It’s not like everyone at the school loved Eichi, but it seems a bit strange to be happy about a death. Not to mention, this means there’s another trial and more investigating to be done, which really just means a lot more work and a lot more headaches.

 

At least, there was one good thing that could come from this. Koga’s still pretty torn up about the death of Adonis-maybe doing something else will help distract him for some amount of time. It’s why, without thinking, Koga leaves the room, blindly heading in a direction that is definitely not towards the school dormitories.

 

When Mao reaches Eichi’s room, he’s surprised to not find Koga there. He’d seen the other second year storm out of the cafeteria, but he hadn’t seen which direction he’s gone in-apparently, it wasn’t the way Mao assumed it was. The door to the blonde’s room is slightly ajar, presumably left that way by Keito. Mao quickly scans the room for anything Eichi might have gotten during the motive yesterday, but he can't find any of the black folders-did the killer take them?

 

A small noise from behind Mao, like someone clearing their throat, startles him. Turning cautiously-someone's already died today-he sees Ritsu. The older boy’s expression is almost lonely, although it's less pouty than when Mao doesn't “pay enough attention” to him. 

 

That's right, Ritsu and Eichi were...Mao’s not entirely sure. They were in the same club, so they probably got along, and Mao knows that Ritsu doesn't share his brother’s hatred of the Student Council President. There’s a small twinge of painful sympathy in Mao’s heart when he sees Ritsu’s expression. Because of his unit, he was never really an ‘ally’ to Eichi, but that doesn't mean he hates the blonde either. 

 

“Ecchan’s really…” Ritsu breathes out a sigh, his expression falling a little more. Strange, he didn't seem this affected when Tsukasa died. Then again, that could easily be explained-Tsukasa killed two people, he wasn't murdered.

 

At that moment, the body discovery announcement plays, a cold robotic voice echoing in a dead silent room. There's a slightly tense silence after, which Ritsu breaks. 

 

“Maakun?” Mao turns his head silently to acknowledge Ritsu. “Whose folder did you get?”

 

“Should we trade folders?” Mao asks, holding out the folder he got yesterday-Yuzuru’s, before stopping for a moment. “Actually, I can't give this to you. It has to go to...someone else.” Ritsu can tell Mao is choosing his words carefully, but decides not to push. If this folder getting to someone is important to Mao, then it might help the investigation, something Ritsu doesn't want to be in the way of. 

 

“I guess we have to investigate, don't we?” Ritsu yawns, stretching, but that doesn't mask the rare flare of energy in his eyes. It's nice to see him so alert-hopefully he’ll be dedicated to this trial. 

 

“I was looking before you came it, but it's weird. He doesn't seem to have many visible wounds, just cuts and fading bruises.” Mao stops, taking a step closer to Eichi and shivering for reasons beside being right next to a dead body. It's damn cold in the room. Mao hasn’t checked the thermostat, but it’s probably somewhere in the 40’s at this point.

 

The folder under Mao’s arms slides a little bit, and the second-year sighs a little. He really needs to go give this folder to someone, someone who really needs to see it soon. Even so, he can’t bring himself to leave Ritsu alone in the room with Eichi’s body. Where is everyone else, anyway?

 

As if his silent prayers for company have been heard, Keito and the remainder of fine walk in through the door at that moment. That might not be the best group to leave Ritsu with, but now is his chance. When Ritsu turns to see who’s there, Mao takes the opportunity to duck behind the taller figures and slip out of the cold room.

 

There are a few groups of people walking down the hallway, towards Eichi’s room, but Mao still doesn’t see who he needs. To find them, he ends up back outside, near the dormitory entrance.

 

“Morisawa-senpai!” Mao calls out, once he sees the third-year in question. The usual presence of Midori is now gone, although that might make giving this folder to Chiaki easier. “I think you should see this,” he says, holding Yuzuru’s folder out to Chiaki. He’s memorized anything in there that might be relevant, so it’s not a big loss to Mao.

 

However, Chiaki doesn’t even attempt to move and grab the folder in Mao’s outstretched hand. In fact, he hardly moves at all. He’s standing still, completely stiff and almost unblinking, eyes glazed over and unfocused.

 

“Morisawa-senpai?” Mao reaches up to have his hand in front of Chiaki’s face a couple of times, and the third year finally blinks, jumping in surprise before he sees Mao in front of him.

 

“I think you might want to read what’s in this folder. It’ll probably help you.” Chiaki nods, unusually silent as he takes the black folder from Mao, looking at the name on the front with a slightly angry expression. Did Mao miss something?

 

“Is something wrong?” Mao’s glad Chiaki doesn’t move, he doesn’t want to chase after him. Chiaki stares down at Mao for a moment, his eyes still noticeably glazed, before he seems to snap out of his trance. With a (clearly forced) smile, Chiaki wakes a hand lightly, insisting that ‘everything’s okay’, and he just ‘needs a moment to think!’. The lie is a bit comforting to Mao-at least Chiaki isn’t completely out of it, he really needs to see what’s in the folder.

 

Mao’s next stop isn’t Eichi’s room. He wants to go to the library, of all places. Eichi’s room was freezing cold, and while he doesn’t remember everything from biology, he’s fairly certain that cold temperatures preserve dead bodies. That’s why morgues are so cold, he knows that much. Surely, that room wasn’t as cold as a morgue, but it was pretty cold nonetheless.

 

Unsurprisingly, the library is empty when Mao gets there. It’s a bit creepy, seeing a place that used to always be so full of people now deserted, but there’s nothing he can do about that. He’s spent enough time in here that it’s not hard for Mao to find the books he’s looking for, and so he gets to work in searching for the answer to his question.

 

Back in Eichi’s room, it takes Keito a few minutes to work up the nerve to start investigating Eichi’s body. It’s easiest to start with things like arms-indistinct enough to really be anyone, even though Keito know’s it’s certainly not ‘anyone’. There’s a bit of a strange thing going on with his arms-they’re littered with scratches that have dried blood around them, but only the parts of his arms that are further down have any bruising around the cuts or really at all.

 

Whatever the problem is, it makes Keito slightly curious. There’s not a logical reason he can think of for only the top half of his arms having no bruises, but there’s probably an answer. To see if it was just a problem with Eichi’s arms, Keito kneels down, rolling up one of Eichi’s pant legs and being careful to not move the corpse too much in the process. Keito gets the fabric up slightly past Eichi’s knee before it’s impossible to move it any further without picking up the blonde’s body.

 

Sure enough, the same thing seems to be happening with Eichi’s legs. What Keito can see of his upper leg doesn’t seem to be very affected, but past his knee, the pale skin begins to grow more and more mottled with an increasing concentration of darker bruises, until it’s all one uniform shade of off-lavender.

 

It looks like Eichi’s legs were bleeding a lot as well, especially on the lower half. There’s clear lines of where the blood has dried, although the lines go in many different directions, like Eichi’s leg was moving after it was cut. Figuring he’s seen everything he can get from this leg, Keito slides the pant leg down to its original place. Just then, the ID card in his pocket buzzes, startling the third-year more than he would care to admit. Right, it’s probably the victim file.

 

Keito stands back up, taking his ID from his pocket and going through to find the new victim file. The figure is covered completely in blood-colored dots-which is a fairly accurate representation of the body here. Whoever killed Eichi must have really been set off by something.

 

According to the file, Eichi’s body was found with several lacerations and bruises, none of which were extremely deep. The file also says that the blonde has some internal bruising, which could be the cause of death, and that he died at around 11 pm the previous night. If Keito remembers correctly, that was not too long before he heard the phantom doorbell ring. He still can’t think of anyone that would want to ring his doorbell way after midnight, but maybe it was the twins playing a prank to lighten the mood. Ding-dong-ditching, right? He wouldn’t put it past them.

 

Keito decides that his next best option is probably to go the library and see if he can find anything about bruising on dead bodies. Being in the same room as Eichi’s dead body is definitely starting to take a toll on his mind. Not to mention, there’s not much in the room that he can see to investigate, besides Eichi’s body. If there’s anything of importance in the room, it’s highly unlikely that it will go unnoticed, due to the sheer volume of people in the room at the moment.

 

When Keito steps out of Eichi’s room, he’s surprised to hear something click and slide across the floor. It seems he kicked something away from the door of Eichi’s room. It’s on the other side of the hallway, a small black object lying innocently on the ground. When he picks the object up, Keito recognizes it immediately-it’s one of Eichi’s pens, the ridiculously fancy ones with his initials engraved on the end in gold lettering.

 

What surprises Keito even more, however, is the fact that there’s blood on it. Coupled with the fact that the pen had been outside of Eichi’s room before Keito accidentally away, it means that the killer likely had this pen with them before when they left Eichi’s room. Maybe, if he’s clever enough about it, Keito can ask around and see if anyone ‘recognizes’ the pen. For now, however, he’s on his way to the library. The pen thing can be done during the trial, but if he needs to research something, he needs to do it soon.

 

It comes as a little bit of a surprise to find Mao already in the library, a stack of books, a sheet of paper with a small amount of writing on it, and a pen next to him. Then again, Keito was sure he’d seen a couple of similarities between him and the second-year. Maybe, that extended beyond idol-related activities as well.

 

“Isara, what are you looking for?” Keito doesn’t want to lean over mao’s shoulder to see what he’s writing-that feels like a rude and intrusive thing to do. Mao jumps a little-had he not hard Keito come in? Nonetheless, he responds quickly.

 

“I’m seeing if the cold has an effect on dead bodies. It was fairly cold in there, after all.” Keito notices Mao’s hesitation to say ‘Eichi’s room’, and Keito is grateful-it’s less painful to hear it that way. “Are you looking for the same thing, Hasumi-senpai?” Mao asks, his voice slightly muffled by the books he’s turned his attention back to.

 

“I’m looking for information on dead bodies and bruises. Tell me if you find anything.” His voice sounds too cold, to distant to even Keito himself, but he supposes it’s sort of a coping mechanism. Taking a few books that look like they may be of use, Keito sits down at the table across from Mao. The two work in silence for a few minutes, before Mao stops to shake his hand after copying down a particularly long paragraph, and pushes a book towards Keito.

 

“I don’t know if this is exactly what you’re looking for, but I thought it might be at least a little bit useful.” the second year says, tapping the title of the book’s section with the end of his pen: ‘Postmortem Bruising’. Postmortem...post-mortem...after-death. Ah, good enough. It’s a better lead than anything Keito’s managed to find so far on his own.

 

“Morisawa-senpai, are you alright?” In the cafeteria, there’s about three minutes left until the trial is set to begin, and Midori finds Chiaki for once. Instead of being sougth out by the usually energetic third-year, Midori instead finds him: nearly slumped over a table in the cafeteria, alone and silent and almost completely still, except for his breathing.

 

Chiaki looks up at Midori, and for a moment, he can see the boy everyone always talks about, the first-year who people tell Midori he’s just like, reflected in once-bright eyes. Then Chiaki lets his head fall again, breathing out a long, heavy sigh.

 

“I’m fine, Takamine. How did the investigation go?”

 

“Morisawa-senpai, you’re obviously not okay.” Midori doesn’t expect the words that he speaks-he’s not one to be this assertive, especially when dealing with the loud and bright Chiaki Morisawa. A few moments later, Midori sees two of the file folders from yesterday on the table next to Chiaki. He reads the names, and his heart is suddenly lodged in his throat, beating a mile a minute and threatening to suffocate him if this feeling doesn’t go away right now.

 

“Did you-” Midori is cut off by the announcement that the trial is about to begin. He finds himself staring up at the speakers during it, and when the announcement ends, Chiaki is already at the cafeteria’s exit.

 

“I’m sorry, Takamine.”

 

That only serves to heighten the fear building in Midori’s gut, but he scoops up the folders on the table anyways and hurries after Chiaki, not wanting to be late. Based on the names on the files, his mind is screaming a conclusion that he desperately doesn’t want to reach. It’s too early to make a judgement like this, he tries to tell himself, but something about the names on the folders he’s carrying make Midori wonder if he’s actually going to be correct.

 

The folders bearing the names of Yuzuru and Eichi.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this next trial is really...really...medical and technical, so i'm sorry if that's gonna disappoint you! just a warning in advance, eheh  
> i'm not sure if the killer will really be a surprise at this point...we'll see.
> 
> as always, thanks for reading!  
> twitter @squirrellissa


	25. 4-4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ‘If Morisawa-senpai dies, then they’ll take me out next..’
> 
> No, don’t think like that, he tries to tell himself. For someone who’s always talking about wanting to die, the feeling of death looming over him isn’t so welcome anymore. If he dies, at least let be on his own terms.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> how do i write natsume's verbal tic: the sequel  
> i've switched it to capitalizing the last word of a sentence like THIS  
> i think it will stay that WAY
> 
> here it is, the trial to see who killed everyone's favorite life-ruining emperor! is it the one everyone seems to suspect, or was it someone very different?

This fourth ride to the courtroom is the same as any other ride they’ve had. Dark, silent, and it occasionally smells like sulfur. Midori keeps the folders he’d found by Chiaki under his arm. He didn’t get a chance to read the, but based on the names, he’s got a feeling of how they might contribute to the trial. His imagining of the events last night aren’t very pleasant, but if they’re right, then there’s nothing he can do.

 

He can feel the tension radiating off of Chiaki, a sense of regret and nervousness so strong it nearly hurts Midori as well. He holds the folders a little closer, gaze dropping to the floor. 

 

‘If Morisawa-senpai dies, then they’ll take me out next..’

 

No, don’t think like that, he tries to tell himself. For someone who’s always talking about wanting to die, the feeling of death looming over him isn’t so welcome anymore. If he dies, at least let be on his own terms.

 

The elevator shudders to a stop, and there’s a gentle ding when the doors open. Out of all the rooms they’ve been in, this one is by far the most unsettling. It looks like a damn slaughterhouse-chains and weapons adorn metal walls, smeared dark red with rust and blood. The circle where everyone normally stands now is made out of rotting wood, nails sticking out of the material in odd directions. Midori is careful not to knick himself on one of the nails as he finds his position in the circle.

 

The first-year takes a moment to find the place where Wataru stood before today, and finds that his portrait has small birds in the corner, which seem to be ‘holding up’ the ‘X’ across his face.

 

“You can begin, you know. I have grown quite bored, already.” Mademoiselle feigns a yawn, staring down at the group from her throne, as per usual.

 

“We should make sure everyone’s on the same page with the motive, right?” Mao proposes, only to be met with silence. “I’m assuming everyone got a folder with...well, it was secrets, right?” His eyes are trained on Chiaki as he speaks-the third year doesn’t look any different than he did that morning. No worse, but definitely not better, either. When no one speaks up again, Mao sighs, frustration evident on his face.

 

“Can someone just answer me?”

 

“You’re right about the motive, Maakun.” Count on Ritsu to back Mao up, but Mao takes it anyways. It’s better than no one’s word, at least. “Didn’t you say you found something?” Mao’s face goes blank for a moment, before he nods, reaching into his jacket pocket.

 

“It’s not there. Has anyone seen a pen with two letters on it?”

 

“I have it.” Keito does exactly the same thing as Mao did-reaches into his pocket for the pen,and comes up empty handed. From his place, Midori can pretty much see Mao’s hands curl into a fist-whatever that pen was, it apparently was pretty important. Now that it’s mentioned, however, Midori feels like he might remember Chiaki finding a pen somewhere-it was a while ago, but he’d found it nonetheless.

 

“It was Eichi’s pen. I should know, he was always complaining to me about losing it.” Keito sighs, crossing his arms. It seems if anyone has the pen, they’re not going to-

 

“Are you talking about THIS?” Midori turns to see Natsume, who he’d almost forgotten was here, holding a very familiar object between his thumb and forefinger. Both Keito and Mao seem to perk up immediately, staring exactly where Midori is.

 

“Natsume-kun, you can’t hide evidence like that!” Natsume, who had turned to face Keito a little better, looks over his shoulder at Tsumugi, before apparently deciding against whatever remark he had and instead ignoring the third-year entirely.

 

“I found this in front of your ROOM. How foolish of you, to leave it in such a PLACE. You might incriminate YOURSELF.” Natsume hands over the pen nonetheless, and Keito seems relieved to have it back.

 

“I found this pen outside of Eichi’s room. Isara, where did you find it?”

 

“On the floor, next to his desk. I think he might have been holding it, there’s blood on the end.”

 

“Morisawa-senpai, didn’t we find this pen by the fountain last week?” Midori asks the question before he means too. There’s a moment of silence, in which Chiaki gives him a shocked, almost betrayed glance, before Keito responds to the question instead.

 

“Morisawa, did you have this pen?” Chiaki nods, silent, head down. “Does this mean you killed Eichi? You don’t seem like yourself today.”

 

“Hasumi, don’t throw around accusations so easily. You’re upset, try to be rational.” Kuro tries to stop Keito, and the shorter third-year pauses for a moment before lowering the hand holding the pen, which had been slightly raised.

 

“You’re right. There’s still a lot we haven’t-”

 

“I...I did it.”

 

Midori’s heart leaps into his throat at that. Did Chiaki, justice-driven, hero-loving Chiaki Morisawa just confess to murder? There’s obviously another way..there’s no way the Chiaki he knows would kill anyone, even Eichi.

 

“Morisawa-senpai?” The folders, which Midori has been holding until now, fall to the floor: papers scatter everywhere in a complete mess. “Did you really?”

 

“After I saw something in his folder last night, I...Takamine, he was plotting to kill you! What was I supposed to do?” Uh-oh. Chiaki’s nearly in hysterics, and Midori can tell he’s not far behind himself. Suppressing the feeling of his heart pounding in his throat, trying desperately to make him be sick, he pries again.

 

“What did you do to him?”

 

“Everything you saw...I was so angry, I don’t even know what I was doing.” Chiaki falls silent, looking around the circle. There’s a silent scream in the back of Midori’s mind, insisting that there’s no way this could be right-he won’t lose Chiaki, he won’t lose his hero, something about this is a lie.

 

“Morisawa, is this true?” Keito is back on the offensive. Judging by the look on his face, Chiaki might not even make it to his execution-Keito might actually kill him right here if no one stops him.

 

“Idiot, you didn’t actually kill someone, did you?” Izumi hisses, and Chiaki visibly flinches back.

 

“It’s really not like you..” Kaoru adds, and Midori almost asks the two of them to prove that Chiaki is innocent. They probably know him as well as Midori does, surely there’s something they can do. But, Keito also seems to be dead-set in proving that Chiaki is now the culprit, and an angry Keito is not something a lot of people seem to want to go against.

 

Midori really doesn’t want to do this by himself, but after all Chiaki’s done, who is he to sit back and let this happen?

 

“He’s innocent!” The whole room turns to stare at him, and Midori can understand why Chiaki flinched back so far when Izumi hissed at him. It’s the situations like this that make him want to die-he can’t be right, but he’s made his stance known, and therefore he has to back it up.

 

“Takamine, thanks for trusting me, but don’t do this.” Chiaki gives Midori a small, saddened smile. Even though he really should back down, that face somehow only strengthens Midori’s resolve. He spent most of the day trying to figure out what was wrong with Chiaki, so he didn’t do much investigation. Even though, there’s surely something he can do.

 

“Please cast your votes. We’re all too tired to have this debate, Takamine.” Keito’s glare is possibly the most piercing thing Midori’s seen. It’s enough to almost make him vote then and there, just so he’ll never have to see those eyes again. Ah, if only he could just disappear right now..

 

“Hasumi, at least hear the kid out. Come on.” Kuro sounds exhausted-has he been putting up with an irritable Keito all day? Midori’s not sure, but if he has (and even if he hasn’t), he’s grateful for the defense. Keito turns to glare at Kuro, but unlike most everyone else, he doesn’t even twitch-there’s no fear in him at all.

 

“Alright, Takamine. What makes you think that Morisawa didn’t kill Eichi?” Midori stops for a moment, racking his brain for the little information he has on the trial. His mind spins, panicked, when he can’t think of anything. It’s obvious to him that everyone is staring, watching, and ready to pull the trigger.

 

“Wasn’t Tenshouin-senpai sick?” He finally comes up with. Good one Midori, he’s going to laugh at you and kill Chiaki anyways. He drops his head, not wanting to see the smirks and laughing eyes that he knows await him.

 

However, Keito instead freezes, and he seems to seriously be contemplating what Midori’s said. Midori risks a glance up, lifting his head slightly and peering up with one eye. No one seems to be taking him as a joke, which is a bit reassuring, and he manages to lift his head up a little bit more with the small bit of confidence he’s gained.

 

“He might have been sick enough to die, but I can’t be entirely sure...for now, we should look into that possibility.” Keito declares, and Midori could probably pass out when his heart suddenly goes from beating impossibly fast to a normal pace.

 

“We should look at the corpse’s condition. Surely, there’s something that will help us be able to tell if Eichi died before or after Chiaki came in.” Mao replies, and...that’s fair. It’ll still hurt a hell of a lot if Chiaki does end up being the culprit, but this way he at least gets a fair trial.

 

“Morisawa, are you sure you tried to kill Eichi?” Keito asks, and Chiaki nods.

 

“All of the bruises...those were me. I can’t remember if he was dead when I came in, I was so mad that I couldn’t even think.” Keito nods, but doesn’t respond to Chiaki.

 

“Before we start...ugh, I don’t want to ask this.” Keito pauses for a moment, and sighs, before he talks again. “Sakuma...are there any special properties of blood we should know about before this starts? I’m assuming you, of all people, would know.”

 

“Ah, well, it reacts to gravity like water. I’m afraid I didn’t get a good look at the poor emperor's corpse, so I can’t say more.”

 

“He was too busy celebratin’ the bastard’s death to even properly investigate,” Koga adds on with a snarl. “Listen here, vampire bastard. It’s-blood isn’t, gonna like, freeze in place if someone dies, right?”

 

Rei laughs at that. “Calm down doggie, you should have enjoyed the celebration a little more. But no, it will flow downward and pool at the lowest areas.” Koga mutters something about not being a damned dog under his breath, but he doesn’t start a fight, so the trial keeps going.

 

“So that would be the bruises on his lower legs and elbow, right?” Keito asks, and the older Sakuma brother nods.

 

“I think Tenshouin was sitting at his desk when I came in...I thought I had kill him, so I tried to move him back to his desk and make it look like he died in his sleep.” Chiaki adds on. It’s still unsettling to Midori that Chiaki doesn’t even remember what happened. He could be lying, but Chiaki doesn’t really lie-he must have been in a huge, blind rage to not remember anything.

 

“Postmortem bruising.” Mao says suddenly, and Midori turns to look at him, confused. He knows bruises, obviously, but what the hell does ‘postmortem’ mean? “Bruises that are inflicted after someone dies. Isn’t that what you were looking up in the library, Hasumi-senpai?” Mao quickly clarifies, seemingly sensing the confused looks at him from around the room.

 

“Morisawa, what time did you go to Eichi’s room?” Keito asks, the look on his face one of urgency.

 

“I think it was around 1:30 in the morning? It was just before 2 when I got back to my room, and I didn’t stay long.”

 

“He died at 11 the night before, right?” Mao asks, and Keito nods. Mao looks hopeful now, and that makes Midori feel a little better. Maybe his panicked excuse for why Chiaki didn’t kill Eichi will actually be the right answer.

 

“The blood that pooled in his arms and legs-that’s called livor mortis, and it should have started making bruises at about an hour after he died. The bruises show up the worst at about twelve hours later, and then they get a bit lighter. I didn’t go back, but can anyone confirm this?”

 

“I-I can, Hasumi-senpai.” Hajime raises his hand slightly, the other arm crossed across his body. It’s almost sad, to see the small boy in the middle of two portraits that tower over him-Tomoya and Nazuna.

 

“I didn’t want to see Tenshouin-senpai, so I only went a few minutes before the trial started. I think, his elbow was lighter than the bruises on his body.”

 

If it was nine in the morning when the body discover announcement went off, then it would be about 4:30 in the afternoon by the time Hajie go around to seeing Eichi at the end of the 8-hour investigation period. That means it would have been about 19 and a half hours since Eichi had died...logically, the color from the blood pooling would have faded at least a little by then.

 

“Don’t we also have to account for rigor mortis?” Hokuto asks Mao. The red-haired boy pauses for a moment, before he nods.

 

“Right, thank you. For anyone who doesn’t now, rigor mortis occurs about two hours after someone dies. It’s basically their body getting stiffer. I’m not sure, but, theoretically, because the body would be too stiff, less blood vessels would break if someone was in rigor mortis?”

 

“If it happens two hours after someone dies, and Morisawa-senpai came in over two hours after the time of death, why are there so many bruises?” Hokuto asks, and Mao falls completely silent.

 

There’s a pause-it seems that everyone is trying to come up with an answer to Hokuto’s question. Midori doesn’t know much about forensics, or dead body stuff in general, so there’s not much he can do to aid here. However, after what was probably only a minute, but felt like an eternity, Mao speaks back up.

 

“It’s because the room was so cold! The cold slows down decaying processes of dead bodies-that’s why morgues are so cold. Hasumi-senpai, do you think Tenshouin-senpai would have turned the thermostat down of his own accord, or did someone else do that?”

 

“If he wasn’t feeling well, he might have done it. He’s too stubborn to ask for someone’s help anyways, so if he had a fever, he probably would have just made the thermostat very low to cool down.” Keito responds. “Did anyone see what temperature the room was?”

 

“It was about forty fahrenheit. I saw it when I was in Ecchan’s room with Maakun,” Ritsu explains. Midori only went in Eichi’s room briefly, but he doesn’t remember it being very warm. He’s not exactly sure what the conversion for forty fahrenheit would be in celsius, but he’s sure it’s none too warm.

 

So, does this mean Chiaki didn’t kill Eichi? The fact that he was too out of it to realize that he was beating up a dead body is a little bit disturbing, but it’s better than the other outcome.

 

“I think we can vote now, right?” Midori asks, his hand hovering over Eichi’s face. He can’t remember the last time he felt this relieved about anything-it’s better a better feeling than passing a test that he was expecting to completely fail. There’s no objections in the room-instead, there’s the sound of soft mechanical whirrs as votes are recorded.

 

“Thank you, Takamine.” Chiaki’s smile nearly makes Midori start crying. He’s not sure why-maybe because he’s just so grateful that he’s not going to lose Chiaki. Whatever it is, he swallows the lump of emotion in his throat and votes for Eichi, watching the screen go black.

 

And they were right. In the end, it had been Eichi’s illness that killed him, and not Chiaki.

 

After a brief execution that Midori didn’t pay much attention to, the trial was over. Now, the biggest question in his mind was why Mademoiselle had decided to execute Eichi’s dead body-wasn’t that defeating the purpose? Well, that, and one other thing.

 

“Morisawa-senpai?” Midori stops Chiaki when they get off of the elevator. The sunset is ending now, faint purple streaks on the horizon serving as the last sliver of day. Above them, the night sky is clear and starry, the deep blue expanse spotted with white pinpricks and stamped with the glowing shape of the moon.

 

“You know that you tried to kill the wrong person?” Midori asks. He wishes that he hadn’t left the folder scattered on the floor in the courtroom, but it’s not like he wanted to keep them anyways. It would have been helpful for this discussion, but he’s sure Chiaki will believe him anyways.

 

“Tenshouin and Fushimi were plotting to kill you together, I know.” Midori freezes. “I read the file, you know.” Chiaki laughs a little at that, exhaustion still evident on his face. Right, it’s surely been a long day for him. He probably will fall asleep out here if he doesn’t get to his room soon.

 

“We can talk in my room, if you want. I just wanna sit down..” Chiaki complains, stretching his arms up and yawning. He turns to walk back towards the dormitory, and Midori nods to the air around him, following after his unit leader.

 

They do talk for a few minutes-although it’s not about the trial, it’s just simple small talk that consists of a half-asleep Chiaki and Midori still being awestruck that he managed to turn the trial around with one panicked phrase. After, for some reason, instead of going back to his room, Midori finds himself under blankets that are as warm as Chiaki himself, falling asleep with one of Chiaki’s hands in his.

 

“I think you’re the real hero here,” Midori hears, although the words around faint. He’s a lot more tired than he’s realized, holy hell. There’s a small warmth against his forehead-did Chiaki just kiss him? And it makes his cheeks flush a little bit, but before the first year can complain, both he and Chiaki are fast asleep.

CHAPTER 4: END  
SURVIVORS: Hokuto, Mao, Makoto, Rei, Koga, Kaoru, Mika, Shu, Hinata, Yuuta, Leo, Izumi, Arashi, Ritsu, Chiaki, Kanata, Midori, Tetora, Keito, Kuro, Mitsuru, Hajime, Natsume, Tsumugi, Sora, Yuzuru, and Tori.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 40 fahrenheit = 4.4 celsius (thanks google)
> 
> after last chapter everyone suspected chiaki and i was dying of laughter my plan succeeded  
> so, eichi's dead, and he didn't drag anyone down with him! it's a win-win, right?
> 
> if this trial was hard to understand, i apologize-i know it was really kinda technical and i don't know why??? i thought this was a good idea??  
> i wrote a scenario out when i first planned this trial, so i'll leave that in the comments for anyone who wants to read it.
> 
> thanks for reading!  
> twitter @squirrellissa


	26. 5-1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Tori-kun, I think I remembered something.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'm back from crying over arashi narukami and ready 2 write

It hadn’t been his idea to check the laptop, but Mao’s glad that they are. They being him, Hokuto, and Makoto-whose room the laptop is in. It’s a bit of a surprise Mademoiselle, or whoever is controlling her didn’t take the laptop. Whoever that person is has security cameras in every room, so it’s impossible for them to not know about the device.

 

“There’s some kind of message here,” Makoto points out almost as soon as the laptop is up and running again. He’s right-at the bottom of the ‘Project Revolution’ program, there’s a small email symbol with a red number one next to it. He clicks it, and the loading symbol spins on the screen for a few moments before what seems to be an inbox replaces the main screen.

 

The message on top is bolded, so that’s probably the new one. They open it, and on the screen is a strand of numbers and letters that don’t make any sense.

 

‘18I9B20B19S21.” Mao reads the line out loud. It’s the only contents of the message, so surely there’s something significant about it. Even so, it just looks like a bunch of gibberish right now.

 

“Does that mean anything to either of you?” Hokuto asks. Mao shakes his head no, and he can see Makoto do the same. “There might be more in another message. We should look.” Makoto nods in response, closing out of that message and opening the one underneath it. It’s not bolded, so it probably has been opened sometime in the past-although when that is is a mystery to them all.

 

At least, he tries to open it. However, the email seems to be locked, and requiring some kind of password to see the contents.

 

“Do you know the password for this?” Mao shakes his head no. Even so, he moves in closer to the computer, and proceeds to use every password he can remember making. Much as he expected, none of them work, and they’re left with a locked email and a lot of confusion.

 

“We should check the rest, and see if there’s one that’s already unlocked.” Hokuto suggests and Makoto nods. He unplugs the laptop from where it was charging, moving to sit cross legged on the floor and puts the device in front of him. The other two Trickstar members sit on either side of him. Despite the amount of time that’s passed, it’s moments like this-silence between the three of them-where the absence of Subaru is the most noticeable: a wound that occasionally reopens just to be an inconvenience. 

 

“Are any of the subjects interesting?” Mao asks, to break the silence if nothing else. Makoto shakes his head no, taking off his glasses and rubbing his eyes before opening the next email.

 

“They’re mostly just numbers and letters. A few have ‘objective’ in the title, but there aren’t any details. The most recent is objective 48, but there’s no written date that you got it,” he explains. The room falls silent again, except for the sound of a laptop mouse clicking over and over. It’s so quiet that the silence starts to ring in their ears, until one of the emails opens for real.

 

“What does it say?” Instantly, all three lean in closer until they nearly hit heads with each other. The email’s subject is simply ‘password requirements’, and the message itself is pretty short.

 

‘Co-Leader No. 3, Isara Mao-  
Due to recent security problems, specifically in the technology department, we are implementing an email lock system. You will be required to place a lock on all emails, as well as report to ‘Leader’ your email password(s). It is strongly recommended you create a different password for each email.  
Regards,   
Co-Leader No. 7’

 

“I think the first code we found might be a password.” Makoto says right away. “Let me check the sender again.” He scrolls back up to the top of the inbox, but not before writing down the email they had just read, so they could find their spot again.

 

The top email doesn’t have a name in the sender bar, but Makoto opens it anyways. Part of the emails being locked could potentially be some emails not having a ‘sender’ unless someone actually opened the email. It takes a few seconds to load again, but once the email is opened, Makoto’s prediction is right-the sender is now there, at the top of the email where it should be.

 

“It’s from ‘Leader’?”

 

Just when he's about to fall asleep, there's a knock on Hajime’s door. It startles him out of his half-sleeping trance, and the first-year mindlessly steps to his door, rubbing sleep from his eyes as he opens the door slowly. Standing there is Tori, looking uncharacteristically upset with bags under his eyes and messy hair.

 

“Tori-kun?” Tori looks up a little bit, shifting so his eyes face Hajime more directly, and the blue-haired boy sees some details that he hadn’t first noticed. Namely, his eyes are red-rimmed, and there are clear tear tracks down his cheeks. Still slightly dazed, it takes Hajime a moment to comprehend before he remembers, right, Eichi’s dead. That fact along, with Tori now crying in front of him, makes his heart begin to race. Knowing that Tori won't hurt him, Hajime pulls the pink-haired boy into his room and closes the door softly. 

 

“H-he told me he wasn't dying.” Tori whimpers, arms wrapped around his torso and eyes unfocused. Hajime does the only thing his tired brain can think of then-pull Tori in for a hug, trying to remember how Nazuna had comforted him after the other first years’ deaths. Unfortunately, just thinking about that makes his heart ache a little more: soon enough he's caught between panic and sadness, clinging to Tori as hard as the pink-haired boy is to him and furiously blinking back tears. 

 

“You were in the same club, right?” Hajime nods, resting his chin on Tori’s shoulder and refusing to pull away. He doesn't trust his voice-his throat’s too right to speak properly. Suddenly, he feels guilty. Tori came to him for comfort, and now he's gone off and cried instead. 

 

“Tori-kun?” A pause. “Why did you come to me, not someone who would handle this better?” He doesn’t mean to sound ungrateful, he's just worried about Tori’s condition! Tori’s grip on his back tightens, if possible. 

 

“I wanted to see you.” Tori says, but his voice is lacking any kind of self-centered tone that it might normally hold. Hajime nods, unsure as his panic turns to embarrassment. Tori steps back suddenly, looking like he did something wrong and know it. Even so, he doesn't say anything, he just runs a hand under his eyes and sighs. Despite that little break, Hajime can tell the other boy’s tears are about to start again. 

 

“D-do you want to stay the night?” He asks, startled when that only seems to make Tori cry harder. “You don’t have to!” He adds, probably too quickly. Tori shakes his head no rapidly, stepping closer to Hajime’s bed until he can sit on the end of it.

 

“Thank you, Hajime-kun.” he manages with a small smile. Something about that smile, whatever it is, really means a lot to Hajime.

 

“Hajime-kun?” Only a few moments after the Ra*bits member turns off his light, he hears Tori’s voice. Is something wrong? Is he afraid of the dark? Admittedly, Hajime isn’t a fan of dark places either. But, he’s grown accustomed to sleeping in the dark-at home, he’d pass nightlights down to his younger siblings and deal with fear of the dark on his own, instead of making his parents go out of their way to buy another.

 

“Do you know anything about Project Revolution?”

 

The question stuns Hajime, if nothing else. He doesn’t want to be rude and avoid the question, but it seems out of place. Although, if it’s weighing on Tori’s mind, even after the events of today, then it’s probably pretty important.

 

“No, I don’t think I know anything new.” There’s a moment of silence, before there’s a slight rustling sound and Tori seems to get a little closer. It’s hard to tell for certain in the dim light. “Did you find something out?” He almost doesn’t want to know, but it might be something that’s valuable to know in the end. Tori nods, shifting even closer. Hajime’s pretty sure he can hear the other boy’s heartbeat-or maybe that’s his own, racing a little too fast and a little too loudly.

 

“When we got the folders, all mine said was ‘Leader of Project Revolution’, nothing else. Not even a name.” His voice is a little whiny, now of all times, but Hajime ignores it in favor of hearing the word ‘Leader’. He thinks he might have heard that mentioned before, although it’s not a guarantee. He certainly doesn’t know who this leader in particular is, but if they had a file folder here, then it really was one of them. Maybe, if he sleeps on it, he’ll come up with something in the morning. Closing his eyes with that thought in mind, Hajime wishes Tori a good night, more than ready to fall asleep.

 

But he can’t get the word ‘leader’ out of his mind.

 

Leader.

 

Leader.

 

“Leader?”

 

“Leader, is he alright?”

 

Hajime looks down, and instantly sees his hands are dyed red. He looks back up, startled, and meets a vaguely familiar face. It’s mostly covered by a mask, but there’s enough face visible that coupled with the person’s voice, he feels as if he might recognize them.

 

Is own face isn’t covered, and his head is throbbing. There’s a hand on his shoulder, he feels himself falling from reality a little bit, and looking down in an attempt to stabilize himself only provides Hajime with something that’s probably the reason why he feels so awful.

 

Two of his siblings, on the ground at his feet, dead. One has purple-red marks around their neck, their face frozen in what looks like a combination of fear and shock. The other one looks even more horrified, their hands tied behind their back and two large gashes on their body. One goes across their neck, the other down their entire torso. The weapon isn’t hard to find, as a rather bloody knife lies in between the two children.

 

Looking between his own red-stained hands and the scene before him, Hajime’s mind puts together the two pieces to form a situation that makes his heart drop through the bloody floor.

 

“Don’t look so upset. You did great, kid!” Another hand meets his shoulder from behind, along with a voice that is all-too-cheery for the situation he’s in. “You’ll be a great co-leader...no one would suspect you of killing anyone.” That only makes the weight of the situation sink in further. He’s killed two people, and not just anyone-his siblings.

 

But wait, that can’t be right. He saw his siblings in the morning, before he left for school on the day that this whole mess started. They were both alive and well, clearly not dead or showing any signs of physical harm.

 

Not to mention, Hajime Shino, a killer? That sounds completely ridiculous. Even so, the scene in front of him nags at Hajime, demanding to be acknowledged as the truth. But, it can’t be the truth.

 

“Hajime, are you alive?” One hand waves in front of his face, but the blue-haired boy doesn’t even flinch. He’s too distracted by the corpses at his feet.

 

“Hajime?”

 

“Hajime?”

 

“Hajime, wake up already!” He jolts awake suddenly, as commanded. His heart is pounding in his ears again, suddenly much more panicked than he felt in the dream. That’s kind of strange-he feels like the dream version of him should have broken down, crying like a little kid or begging to leave. At least, he should have tried to apologize to...yeah.

 

“What’s wrong?” He asks, quietly. Tori’s nails are digging into his shoulder, but he doesn’t have the willpower to move them off. The pink haired boy sits up, drawing away his hand and crossing his arms with an all-too familiar pout.

 

“That’s what I want to know! You were staring straight ahead, like you were possessed, and then you just...stopped breathing!” There are tears in Tori’s voice for sure. “I thought you were dead or something, stupid!” Even though Hajime knows Tori was only worried for him (and probably for good reason, after the events of today), he still flinches back at the contact. His mind is still reeling from what he saw. Was that a memory, or a dream?

 

His head is still pounding like it was in the dream, and that only gets worse when there’s a bright light-Tori’s turned the bedside lamp on. His eyes are a mix of upset and fear and anger, although he’s still pouting horribly.

 

“Hey, your nose is bleeding.” Tori points out, suddenly a lot calmer than he just was. Hajime sits up, running a hand under his nose and staring at the red streak on the back of his hand when it pulls away. The combined nosebleed and headache make him feel like a character out of some strange sci-fi movie. For whatever reason, it seems to solidify in his mind that he’s just remembered something, something he shouldn’t be remembering at all.

 

“Tori-kun, I think I remembered something.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so...there's that  
> good luck hajime...it seems people who know too much are likely to get offed  
> thanks for reading!
> 
> twitter @squirrellissa


	27. 5-2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Well, he was supposed to be babysitting Leo, but getting distracted for only three seconds had been enough for Leo to take off. And so, Izumi had spent the past hour scouring every inch of the campus he could think of for a sign of their troublesome leader. So far, he tried Leo’s room, the cafeteria, the school room, and even that godforsaken tunnel under the school. His next plan was to check the dorm area again, just for good measure, before something in the underground room catches his eye.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> posting on a phone is a bitch so i hope that this comes out alright
> 
> look at me, trying to write new characters (izumi) because i'm starting to love them a bit more (izumi)

The next morning, Tori can tell as soon as Hajime’s woken up that the other boy hasn't slept well. His eyes look dull and shadowed, movements slow. He blinks a few times, seemingly confused by Tori’s presence, before sighing. 

 

“Tired,” he mumbles, rubbing his eyes with a yawn before rolling over, either having remembered the night before or being too tired to ask anything. Tori can feel the other boy’s breathing, slow and warm on the side of his leg. He stays there for a moment, more glad than he’ll admit for the company, before standing up. The morning announcement has already gone off-that’s what woke the two first years up. Even though Tori would much prefer to stay here, in Hajime’s room, he doesn’t want to listen to the inevitable talking-to from Yuzuru if he shows up to breakfast too late.

 

It takes a surprising amount of effort to rouse Hajime, who seems like someone who would wake up easily. Given the circumstances it’s not surprising, this could be an exception. Nonetheless, the two are still a few minutes late to breakfast. The cafeteria is fairly lively, seemingly unaffected by the events of yesterday.

 

“Tori-kun, do you think I should tell someone about last night?” Hajime doesn’t move from the entrance to the cafeteria, his eyes looking around the room. He’s probably looking for someone, Tori assumes, although he’s not sure who. Although, if he’s thinking about telling someone what he remembered, it’s probably one of the boys from Trickstar.

 

It’s kind of nice to feel like there’s some special secret between them. However, even Tori knows that there are situations where secrets shouldn’t be kept, and secrets that shouldn’t be kept in general-this situation being one example. He also knows that Hajime probably won’t talk about his memory unless someone tells-he’s far too shy to do it on his own.

 

“Yep! Go spread the knowledge, Hajime-kun.” Tori nods, trying to offer a supportive smile. He can see on the other boy’s face that Hajime is nervous about talking. It makes sense-there are definitely people here who would use that to make Hajime suspicious. Even Tori is completely sure what to think about Haime suddenly ‘remembering’ something. It’s suspicious, of course, but would Hajime really be able to hurt anyone?

 

The most disturbing part of the memory, Hajime thinks, as he makes his way to the remainder of Trickstar, is it confirms everyone here really does have something to forget. Something unpleasant, at that. Hajime knows he’s probably one of the least violent people in this group too-if he could be driven to murder his own family, then what could other people have done?

 

The three Trickstar members are huddled around a piece of paper, which Mao writes on as they speak. Hajime stands behind them, waiting for someone to notice him and staying quiet. It takes a few moments, enough time for him to feel completely awkward, for one of the three to notice and address him.

 

“I-i remembered something!” He’s almost certain he’s spoken too fast, that they didn’t understand him, by the way the three fall silent and stare at him.

 

“Shino, you should sit down and explain.” Mao looks both calm and surprised as he gestures to the empty seat at the table. It feels awkward to sit there, knowing that that seat is most definitely Subaru’s, but..he’s not exactly present. Hajime sits on his hands, anxiously glancing around the circle as he’s unsure of where to begin. Three pairs of expectant eyes meet his before Hajime finally takes a breath and tries to start his story.

 

“Last night, Tori-kun and I shared a room,” he starts. “And when I fell asleep, I had a strange dream. It...it was terrifying. I…” He stops again, hands gripping tight to the sides of his chair and eyes squeezed shut. Even though he can’t see them Hajime can practically feel the eyes staring at him, waiting for him to continue.

 

“Shino, take your time.” Mao reaches a hand towards the younger boy, trying to pat him on the shoulder to show some sympathy. Hajime jumps, his eyes flying wide open, but he nods. The first year closes his eyes again, taking a couple of breaths before trying to speak again.

 

“I couldn’t see any faces, but. S-someone, no I’m sorry, two people were talking? And my siblings...I-I think I had...killed them.”

 

Hajime’s pretty sure Makoto nearly fell out of his chair in surprise after he spoke. Immediately, there’s a sense of fear welling up inside of him-should he have told him? Are they going to mark him as a traitor? He stands up, apologizing and accidentally knocking over his chair in the process.

 

“Shino, it’s not your fault.” Hajime feels like Mao’s reaction is purely out of habit, which could just be because of his guilt. “This just confirms what was in the videos we found. Whoever trapped us in here forced us to kill our family first.” Mao saying that should make him feel better, but instead it makes him panic even more. Surely, almost anyone who killed their family would be in denial of it, right? But that part of him in denial just got killed as well.

 

“We’re not going to tell anyone, if that makes you feel better,” Mao offers. Hajime nods, running a hand under his eyes-when had he started crying? “Thank you, that was really brave of you to tell us something like that.”

 

Hajime leaves to go tell Tori that he did it, and Mao sits back down at the table with Hokuto and Makoto, huffing out a sigh. He’s relieved and concerned all at once-because now they really can’t deny that all of them were involved in some kind of mass murder plot at some point. It doesn’t make sense, though. Why would they kill people, including their own families, so willingly? Sure, things at the school weren’t always run fairly, but it was nothing to the point of mass murder, as far as Mao was aware. It would take someone seriously messed up, seriously deranged, to spark such a revolution.

 

“Isara, we should go back and watch Shino’s video,” Hokuto says, almost immediately. “If we hear the voices he talked about, we might have a suspect or two.”

 

A few minutes later, the three Trickstar members return to Makoto’s room, bringing with them Hajime and Tori. Hajime had been invited to see if the video matched up with his memories, and Tori tagged along because he was a little concerned for Hajime-although he didn’t admit that. The air feels heavy with tension as Makoto goes through the files in the ‘Project Revolution’ application, finally stopping when he finds a video titled ‘Shino 1’.

 

“It should be this one,” he says, double-clicking the video to open it. “Are you sure you’re okay with watching this?” he asks one final time, after the video has loaded. Hajime hesitates for a moment, but nods his head yes eventually. Makoto turns back to the computer, and plays the video. However, he doesn’t watch the video, the blonde instead chooses to keep his eyes on Hajime and watch the first year’s reactions. He hates to be so distrustful, but someone as peaceful as Hajime remembering something so violent does make him a bit suspicious. Fortunately, Hajime’s reactions seem genuine-his eyes are wide, hands curled into fists in his lap and biting at his lower lip nervously.

 

When the video finishes, all eyes in the room turn to Hajime, expectant. The blue-haired boy shakes visibly, staring blankly ahead for a few moments with a look of utter defeat on his face before slowly nodding his head. 

 

“Th-that's exactly what I remember…”

 

If Izumi has to pull his stupid Ousama out of another stupid situation, he’s going to kill him. Probably. It's bad enough he can't find Yuu-kun, off with the remainders of Trickstar no doubt, but now he’s stuck babysitting this infant of a king. Arashi had left him up to his-she was much better at verbally controlling the ‘king’ that Izumi was, but she had ran off to find Mika, leaving Izumi by himself.

 

Well, he was supposed to be babysitting Leo, but getting distracted for only three seconds had been enough for Leo to take off. And so, Izumi had spent the past hour scouring every inch of the campus he could think of for a sign of their troublesome leader. So far, he tried Leo’s room, the cafeteria, the school room, and even that godforsaken tunnel under the school. His next plan was to check the dorm area again, just for good measure, before something in the underground room catches his eye.

 

The room is still there, although it’s not a very large threat anymore. The weird-looking bomb is long gone and the area has been brightened up a little bit. Other doors besides the one that lead to the auditorium and the dorm area exist, but there’s never been any reason to check behind one of them. Until now.

 

One of the doors is slightly ajar, a golden-green glow that clashes with the main room’s red theme filtering out from behind. Completely forgetting about his search for Leo, Izumi takes a few steps towards the door, listening carefully for voices behind it. When he hears none, he assumes it’s probably safe (well, as safe as anything could be here) to enter. Behind the door is a long corridor not unlike the ones leading in and out of the main room, but this time the walls are lined with gold and green lights-explaining the color difference.

 

His own footsteps echo ominously, the only sound in an otherwise silent passageway. There’s still no sign of anyone who could have opened this door. Then again, they were never explicitly stated to have locks-no one ever tried to enter them in the first place. Eventually, the lights on the walls begin to get placed further and further away from each other, the the point where Izumi pulls out his ID card to use for light. When it turns on, the profile screen is showing. Seeing Leo’s face makes him feel a little guilty about abandoning the search, but there’s no reason to kill anyone right now, so Leo should be fine. Besides, if he got through all of those months after Eichi, he could survive a few hours on his own.

 

Suddenly, he can hear voices, and Izumi stops walking. There’s two voices, although neither is one he particularly recognizes. They’re too faint for him to make out words clearly, and making what is probably the worst damn decision of his life, Izumi opts to follow the voices. Sure enough, as he walks further down the passage, the voices begin to get louder. Holding his ID card up in front of his face, the third-year can see the faint outline of a door at what has to be the end of this path, although it’s closed and there aren’t windows.

 

Fortunately, he doesn’t have to stand directly next to the door to hear whoever stands behind it clearly. The door must be made out of a thin material for him to hear them well from a few feet away.

 

“Did you send them a Password?” the first voice asks.

 

“Sora did! Although, Sora disguised it, so he hopes they’ll figure it out.” Another responds.

 

“Should we really be helping them so soon?” A third voice asks.

 

“Your opinion does not Matter. They need to solve this Problem.” The first voice, again.

 

Obviously, the second voice has to be Sora. He said his own name, after all. Based on the tone and speech patterns of the other two, Izumi assumes it has to be Natsume and Tsumugi. So, Switch as a unit is standing behind that door. Very quietly, Izumi steps towards the door. What are they hiding that’s so important it has to be kept at the end of a long hallway in an underground area, behind a windowless door? Not wanting to shine the light in case it slips under the bottom of the door, Izumi fumbles around in the darkness until his hand meets a cold doorknob, made of metal.

 

He tries the doorknob, once, then twice, carefully rattling it as quietly as he can. The voices behind the door suddenly cut off, and Izumi steps away from the door, holding his breath to keep absolutely silent.

 

“Is someone Eavesdropping?”

 

“Sora thinks you should stay out there.”

 

“...”

 

Deciding it’s probably better to not risk angering Natsume and dying some death relating to a satanic ritual, Izumi leaves the door, turning to walk the way he came. Although, this situation is just perfect for him. Switch sounds like the perfect culprit-they did show up so much later than everyone else, after all, and they never really seemed to question what was happening. Besides, he’ll get another chance to talk to Yuu-kun if he decides to report this. Isn’t he trying to figure out their situation with the remnants of Trickstar?

 

Unfortunately, izumi’s perfect plan meets a swift end when he makes his way back outside. A swift, angry, blonde and black end.

 

“Izumi-chan, didn’t I ask you to watch over Ousama for a bit?” Arashi corners him immediately, a clearly forced smile on her face as she backs Izumi towards a tree. Ritsu follows too, present despite the sun shining brightly and looking none-too-happy about the situation.

 

“And?” Izumi crosses his arms, looking away. He can’t tell Arashi what’s happened, not right now. She’ll probably think he’s crazy, or just laugh at him the way she used to laugh at Tsukasa when he was clearly lying about something.

 

“The stupid king got himself stuck in a tree.” Ritsu deadpans, his posture and expression mirroring Izumi’s almost perfectly.

 

“Didn’t you see-hey, he was right here!” Arashi insists, suddenly noticing the lack of Leo’s rather large presence. She sighs, shaking her head and placing a hand on Izumi’s shoulder.

 

“I know you trust him a lot, but he’s going to get himself into trouble if we don’t try to keep him restrained. Okay?” Arashi smiles almost condescendingly, and Izumi can’t feel as if she’s almost talking down to him. Surely, she’s only trying to look out for the king and do what’s best, and he knows this, but that doesn’t mean it bothers him any less.

 

“Whatever. I have something to do. Get you hand off-” Izumi is cut off by a loud bell blaring through the area. It’s not the same one that plays when a dead body is found, though, so at least that mess isn’t going to happen again. When the (obnoxious) horn cuts, off Mademoiselle’s voice begins to echo, loud and clear throughout the grounds.

 

“At this time, all students are required to report to their assigned dormitory room. Failure to comply will result in punishment. Thank you for your cooperation.”

 

“Because we have such a hard choice,” Arashi mumbles under her breath. She’s definitely changed in the past few days. She’s still bitter about Adonis’s death, no doubt, but Izumi can’t really blame her. The two were close enough that he can understand why his death affected her, but he doesn’t really like how it’s made her revert to being a little more standoffish, parts of her older personality resurfacing when she’s angry or uncomfortable.

 

When Izumi arrives back in his room, the first thing he notices is a plain white envelope sitting at the foot of his bed, neatly closed with a wax seal in the shape of the Knights logo. The seal peels off easily, and inside are two small strips of paper. One is larger than the other and had a red border, so he reads that one first. 

 

“Please take note to remember the time, date, and location on the small slip of paper contained in this envelope. Failing to do so will result in an large disadvantage towards you.  
Thank you for your compliance.   
Signed,  
Leader, Code 001”

 

There’s the ‘leader’ term again. The first thing that comes to mind when he sees it, of course, is Tsukasa’s nickname for Leo. However, two factors don't add up between that name and the letter. First of all, the letters are clearly handwritten, and even Tsukasa’s penmanship, and definitely not Leo’s, is near enough to match the writing here. And, Tsukasa is dead. Why should a name from a dead boy mean anything by now?

 

The second slip of paper is much smaller. Just as the letter promised, there is a date, time, and location stamped on the paper in red ink: “20 July 2016, 12:38 pm, Garden Shed.” There's no other instruction on the paper, but from what Izumi can conclude, he's supposed to meet someone then and there. That someone is probably is probably Mademoiselle, which can only mean one thing. 

 

Another murder will happen soon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oh there it issss  
> hopefully updates will be more active during christmas break!! this chapter's gonna be a Wild Ride
> 
> thanks for reading!!  
> twitter @squirrellissa


	28. 5-3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Hajime-kun is so good, coming to his meeting early.” Hajime recognizes the voice of Mademoiselle behind him, probably standing in the doorway to the room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> christmas break means i have more time to write, god bless.

The day fades smoothly into dusk, once again painting the sky in beautiful shades of pink, orange, and purple. For reasons that feel a lot like security, Hajime and Tori (namely the former) chose to spend the rest of the day with Trickstar, trying to learn what they could. The first-years helped search the laptop until nine out of the five could possibly continue looking. Plugging the laptop in to charge once again, they went outside to have dinner and get some fresh air. 

Something about being in Trickstar’s presence, even without Subaru, makes Hajime feel safe, like nothing can hurt him. It's because Trickstar has the most information, arguably, but they also have the laptop and the only known password to get into ‘Project Revolution’: it would be pretty stupid to kill them off. Of course, whoever trapped them in here would want them dead, but there’s no proof so far that it's 100% another student. Besides, killing an information source like Trickstar would make anyone pretty suspicious. 

It’s a bit colder than most evenings have been, which is a relief considering how hot unbearably some days have been. Who knows how much time will pass before things get better? Hajime sits on a bench under a leafy green tree with Tori, drawing patterns in the dirt ground with the toe of his shoe when suddenly, an idea hits him. They’d found a few more passwords, and a lot more locked emails. Could there be a connection? It seems almost obvious to the first-year now-surely, one of the passwords could open at least one of those many emails. Then, he notices something-Tori’s not talking. 

“Tori-kun, are you alright? You’re really quiet.” Hajime casts a worried glance at the boy beside him. Tori shrugs, kicking his feet back and forth while sitting on his hands. The light casts long shadows on his face, making him look much more tired than he probably is. “It’s not much, but please take this.” Hajime holds a teacup towards the pink-haired first-year. It’s half-empty but still fairly warm. Tori looks at the cup for a moment before taking it. When he picks up the cup, Hajime can tell his hands are starting to shake.

“I have to tell Isara-senpai something, I’ll be right back.” Hajime promises, leaving his tea with Tori and getting up from their bench. Trickstar is sitting on the edge of the fountain, not too far from the first-years but definitely out of earshot, especially when someone with a voice as soft as Hajime speaks.

“Excuse me, please,” Hajime says quietly, not wanting to rudely interrupt Trickstar’s conversation. The three second-years hear him immediately, and their conversation quiets down.

“Did something happen, Shino?” Mao asks, sliding over a little bit to make room for Hajime on the fountain’s rim.

“Nothing bad...I just had an idea.”

“Which is?”

“Uh, well...to unlock the emails, you could...use the passwords we found.” His voice gets quieter as he speaks, nervous of telling Trickstar misinformation after all they’ve done so far to try to help the situation.

“To unlock the emails we could what?” Mao asks, sitting up straighter.

“U-use the passwords...from the other emails.” There’s a moment of silence that makes Hajime feel like his blood is running cold.

“That’s a really good idea!” Makoto says, smiling. Hajime realizes that his glasses are off, sitting on his lap instead of on his face. His eyes look kind of red-rimmed, and there’s a red mark on his nose, along with where the bottom of the glasses frames would be on his face. He must be really tired.

“Thank you?!” Hajime manages to squeak out, feeling his confidence rush back with the compliment. “I have to go check on Tori-kun, now.” He dismisses himself quickly, turning around and heading towards the bench, only to find that...Tori isn’t there. The only sign that the other first-year ever sat on this bench is a shattered teacup on the ground in front of the bench.

Panic coming back as quickly as it had settled down, Hajime scans the area quickly. He knows that Trickstar isn’t far away, so they would have seen if something had happened to Tori while Hajime had his back turned. Nonetheless, considering how out-of-character Tori acted, Hajime can’t help but worry for the other. There’s a faint trail of footsteps on the ground, he notices, leading in the direction of the dormitory building. Did Tori head back inside? Maybe he needed time to himself.

After what felt like hours of contemplation, Hajime made the decision to go check on Tori, as he was probably in his own room. It wasn’t like Tori to lock himself away from the public eye, after all, so something definitely had to be wrong. Starting off towards the dormitory building, Hajime looks for any signs of violence or a struggle in his surroundings. However, it’s getting dark, dark enough that he could definitely miss a small detail.

He doesn’t see anything out of place, thank god, on the way back to Tori’s room. The blue-haired first-year knocks gently on Tori’s door three times, waiting for an answer. When a minute passes, he knocks another three times, this time with more force. Another minute, and another three knocks with a call of Tori’s name. Consumed with his concern for the other boy, Hajime completely forgets that the room doors are soundproof-Tori wouldn’t hear him from the other side no matter what.

After enough time passes for Hajime to be much too panicked to be rational, he pulls his own ID card from his pocket, using it to unlock Tori’s door with trembling hands. He doesn’t like the idea of breaking into someone else’s room, trespassing like this, but he needs to make sure that Tori is okay.

“Go away! I don’t need you!” Comes Tori’s response. Hajime’s heart, for whatever reason, freezes in his chest at that, staring into the dim depths of Tori’s room and shaking. Tori seemed to trust him so much this morning, so where had that gone? Shoving his ID card into his pocket, Hajime weighed his options. He could leave just like Tori had asked, or he could be braver and confront his friend.

“Hajime-chin, he needs you.” Hajime spins around, hearing a familiar voice from behind him. There’s no way it’s who he thinks it is, but there’s also no one else who’s ever called him ‘Hajime-chin’. He’s got to be hearing Nazuna’s voice, there’s no other way...but how? There’s no one behind him, not even a ghost of a silhouette on the shadowed walls.

“You need each other.” There’s the voice again. Hajime wants to respond to it, but he’s not sure how. Surely, it’s just a figment of his imagination, telling him what he really needs to do. Surely there’s a subconscious part of him that knows neither of them will make it much further without support from someone.

“I’m proud of you. You’ve become so much stronger,” the voice says. To Hajime, the voice begins to sound more like his own that Nazuna’s. Maybe he’s finally done it and gone insane, or maybe some small part of him exists that believes he truly has gotten stronger through this ordeal. “Survive for me.” Now the voice sounds like a lot more than just one, and Hajime feels his blood run cold. The voice tells the truth-whoever makes it through this mess needs to live on, someone needs to live on, so that everyone else hasn’t died in vain. Of course, there’s no telling if any of them will make it out at this rate, but one can hope…

“T-tori-kun, it’s me.” Hajime sends one more glance behind him, to make sure he’s not going crazy, before taking a deep breath and stepping further into Tori’s room. “Are you okay?” It’s a stupid question he’s clearly not, but Hajime asks it anyways. The silence that follows, save for the sound of Hajime’s quiet footsteps as he navigates in the darkened room, hangs heavy in the air. 

He doesn’t know where the lights could be, so Hajime can’t turn them on. However, he manages to find the foot of Tori’s bed, by walking into it. Biting the inside of his lip and leaning over to rub at his shin, Hajime puts hands on what feels like soft blankets, slowly making his way towards the headboard. He can hear Tori’s quiet sniffles, can tell the other is crying, and prioritizes finding Tori over finding a light.

He doesn’t bump into Tori when he walks down the side of the bed, so Hajime sits down on the side carefully. His shin still throbs from where he hit it on the end of the bed, and he’s careful when moving it up onto the mattress. Slowly as if to alert Tori of his presence, Hajime moves his hands across the covers until they raise up sharply.

Fortunately, Hajime eyes have begun to adjust to the low light in the room, and it takes much less effort for him to find the lamp next to Tori’s bed, on the same side as the blue-haired boy. He turns it on, careful not to knock the lamp over as it feels like it’s made out of glass. Tori jumps, and flinches away from the light but he still doesn’t say anything. After another few moments filled only by silence, Tori finally turns over, blinking at Hajime with red eyes and holding a pillow against his chest.

“I’m sorry to bother you-” Hajime starts, but the face Tori makes at him stops his words. He looks...relieved, even if his nose is red and his face is a mess, blotchy and puffy and tear-streaked. Hajime leans over, managing to pull Tori into enough of a sitting position to hug him.

“Is it about…” Hajime trails off, and Tori nods into his shoulder. They both know who Hajime’s talking about, they were both affected by it. “But...did something else happen?” Tori stiffens. Hajime can feel it and see it, something else happened. He kind of knows how Tori feels-as he sits here, he can feel both Nazuna and Eichi’s death beginning to crash down on him. There wasn’t really a lot of time for him to mourn the loss of either of the, after all. He holds Tori a little closer, for Tori’s sake as well as his own.

“Stupid slave,” Tori starts, his voice bitter and angry. “Was going to leave me behind.” ‘Leave him behind’? That doesn’t make sense to Hajime. None of them are getting out of here any time soon, unless they die, or...oh. He was going to leave Tori for dead, then.

“I hate commoners like him.” Tori all but growls, his grip on Hajime’s back beginning to grow painful. Unsure of what to do, Hajime endure the death-grip and stays silent. Tori shakes again, pressing his head further into Hajime’s shoulder.

“I want this to be over. I wanna go home.” He complains, quietly.

“Tori-kun, I...I think we’ll make it out. Just look how far we’ve come..” Hajime tries to stay optimistic, desperately searching for the voice before that told him how brave he was. Surely, if he can just keep on a brave face, it’ll begin to merge with reality. It’s begun to sink in that people who can’t stay strong probably won’t make it anyways.

The two fall into a decently comfortable silence, clinging to each other. After a few minutes, it occurs to Hajime that it’s pretty late, and Tori has fallen asleep on him. As soon as he realizes it, Hajime feels his fragile facade of strength begin to crack. No, crack is an understatement. It shatters into a million pieces, disintegrates into absolutely nothing. Luckily, Tori seems to be a sound sleeper, and Hajime doesn’t wake him up when he finally lets his emotions catch up and manifest.

He’s scared, terrified for his life. This...whatever it is….isn’t nice to anyone. And it doesn’t take prisoners.

 

When he wakes up, Hajime thinks, at least he didn’t have another weird dream, remember something disturbing and new. The sunlight filters into an unfamiliar room, sleep hazing his confusion before Hajime remembers vaguely that he fell asleep in Tori’s room the night before.

Although, where is Tori?

When he sits up, a little bit too fast, Hajime hears something fall to the floor next to him. It sounds like a plastic object, maybe a pen or a pencil? He leans over the side of Tori’s bed, reaching for a piece of paper and a pen that sits on top of it, sitting on the floor. The paper is a simple note from Tori, thanking him and explaining that he wants Hajime to sleep a little bit more, which is actually...really sweet.

Folding the note and putting it in his pocket with a smile, Hajime stands up. The clock reads 9:20 am, which is good. His meeting with whoever left the note in his room not too long ago yesterday takes place at 9:59 am, meaning he probably has enough time to have a quick breakfast before he heads to the 1-A classroom for his meeting. He’s not really sure what’s going to happen at this meeting, but missing it sounds like a rather bad idea.

Hajime spots Trickstar, sitting with Tori and stops over to explain that his meeting is soon before grabbing a piece of fruit and sitting down with them. He has to skip making tea, it might take too long and he’d prefer to be early for this meeting.

“Have any of you had a meeting yet?” Hokuto asks, a piece of paper sitting in front of him. There’s a single line of text written at the top, although from the angle he’s looking from Hajime can’t tell what it says. Everyone at the table shakes their head no. Hokuto slides the paper into the center of the table, and Hajime can read what it says-there are two columns, the first one has Hokuto’s name under it and the second one Mao’s.

“I’m not supposed to tell you this, “ he explains, leaning in and dropping his voice to a whisper. “If you kill someone, you can escape with the person whose name you get. I will try to get everyone’s name, although it might not work.” He takes the paper back, folding it up and putting it in his jacket pocket. “After your meeting, tell me who you get.” Hajime nods. The clock now reads 9:50 am, so he decides it’s probably a good idea to make his way to the school. He gets to the classroom a little early, at 9:55.

“Shino-sama, excuse me.” Hajime freezes when he hears a familiar voice. Even if he didn’t recognize the voice, the use of ‘-sama’ gives away the speaker’s identity. It’s Yuzuru, who, after what Tori hinted at last night, is someone Hajime doesn’t really care to see. At all. Nonetheless, it would be pretty rude to just ignore him if he’s not posing a threat, so Hajime turns to face the voice, which had originally come from behind me.

“Have you seen Young Master?” he asks. Unsure of how to respond, Hajime doesn’t answer at first. He doesn’t want to tell Yuzuru, because he knows that Tori doesn’t want to see him right now. But, he’s sure that there’s always someone else he could find out Tori’s location from. Besides, Tori is in a place with other people so he’ll be safe…

“Um...I think he’s in the cafeteria?” Hajime says, trying to sound unsure of himself even though he knows he’s telling the truth. It probably shows that he’s straight-up lying, as he’s never been one to lie, but Yuzuru doesn’t comment on it.

“Thank you. Good luck in your meeting.”

Sending a mental apology to Tori, Hajime turns and walk the few steps remaining to the entrance of the 1-A classroom. The door is unlocked, and the blue-haired first-year steps in, looking around the empty room. It looks just the same as he remembers it, except there’s no people, no life at all.

“Hajime-kun is so good, coming to his meeting early.” Hajime recognizes the voice of Mademoiselle behind him, probably standing in the doorway to the room. He himself is standing by the windows, looking out over the school grounds. It’s another cloudless day, and the tops of the trees reflect the sky so well that their green leaves appear almost turquoise from a distance. The door closes shut, and before he can even begin to question how such a small doll closed a door on her own, mademoiselle is speaking again.

“My instructions for you are very simple, Hajime-kun.” Her voice is gentle, not demanding. It has the human tones that someone spill through her voice when she’s very calm, making it seem like he’s talking to a human rather than a robotic doll. Mademoiselle approaches rather quietly, and she’s standing only a few feet away from Hajime when he turns back around. There’s an envelope in one of her hands, a little bit oversized for hands as small as hers.

Hajime takes the envelope from the doll. From what he heard from Hokuto, he can assume that there’s a name on whatever is inside the envelope. He opens it carefully, sliding out a single sheet of pure white paper and flipping it over. The paper reads:

“Himemiya Tori  
Tenma Mitsuru”

That’s...not what Hajime expected. Not one name, but two? Does that mean he could save two people? In all honesty, it sounds like a dream. But, as he knows, there’s also a condition he has to meet to get out with Tori and Mitsuru.

“If you successfully get away with murder, you will be able to escape with Tori-kun and Mitsuru-kun. How marvelous! Just think, Hajime-kun, you could save a life or two..” Of course, she doesn’t consider the fact that he’d have to commit murder if he wanted to save these two-something he’s not capable of doing in the slightest.

“Th-thank you, Mademoiselle.” Hajime says, wanting to leave, No matter what the situation may be, just seeing that doll is enough to make him a little uncomfortable There are just some things that shouldn’t talk, dolls definitely being on that list. He makes his way back to the cafeteria, hoping that Trickstar and Tori, or at least Hokuto will still be there when he gets back.

Sure enough, Tori, Makoto and Hokuto are still in the same place they were when Hajime left for his meeting. When Hajime sits down, he notices there’s another line of writing on Hokuto’s list, which is sitting on the table with a pen. He leans over to read it: the name in the first column is Yuzuru, and the second column is Tori. Well, that would explain the rather unhappy look on Tori’s face currently.

“Did Tori-kun tell you about…” Hajime asks, and Hokuto nods. “Mademoiselle gave me two names,” Hajime says, sliding his piece of paper onto the table so Hokuto can see it and write the names down.

“I really don’t like this motive,” Makoto says, breaking the silence at their table. Hajime thinks he knows what the blonde is thinking about, but he doesn’t ask if it’s a sensitive subject, which he’s pretty sure it is. There are definitely some people who this motive would affect more than others, he realizes. For example, as much as hajime would love to save people, he knows that he wouldn’t be able to commit murder and get away with it. Sorry, Tori and Mitsuru.

A few minutes later, Mao comes back. He’s holding an envelope not like the one Hajime was given, and when he gets to the table he slides the sheet of paper out with a sigh.

“No surprises there,” he says, waiting for Hokuto to write down the names before taking his paper back and putting it away. Suddenly, Hajime feels a vibration in his pocket-his ID card, he realizes, taking the object out and seeing that the screen is lit up. “New Rule(s) Added!” the screen reads, and he opens the ‘rules’ tab silently. 

Two rules, the ones that must be new, are written in red text as compared to the rest of them which are white. The first one is “Students may not share motives with one another.” The second one, “Students may not murder more than two others.” Hajime doesn’t like the sound of either of those, but the first one concerns him more because-look what they’ve been doing. Sharing motives.

“I think we can get away,” Hokuto says quickly, although he folds his paper up once more. “If Mademoiselle is having meetings all day, then she won’t be around to watch us carefully, right?” No one objects, because his point makes perfect sense-assuming Mademoiselle is only controlled by one person. Seeing as there’s no way to tell now many people control the doll, they might as well continue sharing and try to give themselves an advantage when the inevitable murder does take place.

The day passes rather quickly, but the group manages to find out a few more names from people who were willing to share. Hokuto’s list currently has eleven pairs of names:

Hokuto - Mao  
Yuzuru - Tori  
Hajime - Tori, Mitsuru  
Mao - Ritsu  
Makoto - Subaru, Hokuto  
Ritsu - Mao, Leo  
Tori - Hajime, Eichi  
Chiaki - Midori  
Rei - Ritsu, Kaoru  
Koga - Adonis  
Arashi - Adonis, Mika

As it turned out, people could get one name or two, and the name of someone who was already dead could be given-meaning the motive had to be prepared are long time in advance. It reinforces the point that whoever set this mess up did it with the intention to kill all of them.

The group of the remaining Trickstar member, Tori, and Hajime sat outside after dinner, waiting to see if anyone would come to them. Due to Mademoiselle’s rule, they haven’t explicitly stated that they’re collecting names, there’s always a possibility that people spread the word about them doing so. It’s a very nice night, warm and not humid, so a lot of people have chosen to stay outside later than they normally would. The group assumed someone would break from the crows and come talk to them, and their prediction comes true. Yuuta breaks free from the crowd, walking towards the five isolated people with obviously careful steps.

“I heard you were collecting the names?” He asks quietly, once he’s close to the group. “I got my brother and Tsukasa-kun.” He says, leaning over to read the list as Hokuto writes down the names Yuuta’s just given him. A loud bell suddenly rings, similar to the one that came the last time Mademoiselle made an announcement.

“All students it is with regret I inform you a rule has been broken. Punishment will occur in...forty-five seconds.” Yuuta turns the color of a ghost, standing up and apologizing while backing away quickly. Panicked, the rest of the group looks around, trying to find anything suspicious before Mao calls something out.

“There’s a light shining on the fountain!” Unfortunately, most people are standing by the fountain as well, and the red-haired boy breaks into run. He hurries over towards the fountain, trying to yell that everyone needs to get away. Hokuto, Makoto and Yuuta follow him, and after a quick exchange of nods, Tori and Hajime do as well. 

Mademoiselle’s voice is suddenly above them, counting down from fifteen. They’re still too close to the fountain, he realizes, because it seems like everyone is doing their own form of panicking instead of listening to any of the six who actually have realized what’s happening. Looking around, Hajime finds Mitsuru and grabs his arm, pulling him close before proceeding to shove the boy as far away from the fountain as his weak arms will allow. Mademoiselle’s now at five, and not bothering to look back, Hajime runs away from the fountain.

It’s probably a good thing he does, as a moment later there’s the sound of something exploding. The force from whatever it is knocks him over, but he’s fine besides that. Where the fountain once stood is a mess of flaming rocks, the water spilled all over the ground but doing nothing to put out the fire. Wanting nothing more than to run to safety, Hajime remembers the voice he heard the previous night. It’s what Nazuna would want him to do...he has to live on for Nazuna, and Eichi, and everyone else who’s died so far.

It seems everyone’s alright, miraculously. Well, some people are definitely unconscious, and/or minorly injured, but no one seems to be dead. Everyone’s heading away from the fountain, when Hajime sees a figure slumped up against the rocks. They’re not bleeding, but they’re not moving either. As he approaches, he can tell it’s Tori.

“Hidaka-senpai!” That’s who Hajime sees first. He know’s he’s not strong enough to carry Tori, despite how small the other boy is. However, Hokuto probably could. Hokuto turns around heading back towards the fountain. Hajime waves, hoping he can be seen in front of the large heap of rubble behind him, blocking out most light.

“Tori-kun’s unconscious. I-I think he’s still alive.” Hajime explains, gesturing to the unconscious first-year with a shaking hand. “I-I can’t carry h-him, please…” Hajime can tell his stutter is coming back and bites his tongue, trying to will it into cooperating. Hokuto nods wordlessly, still looking rather shocked as he picks up Tori. When he does, Hajime notices something shining in between some rocks-he can’t tell what it is, although it looks pretty familiar to him. Maybe a badge of sorts? He can’t tell.

He manages to slide the object out from the rocks it’s wedged in between. However, he also realizes that doing so was a huge mistake, when a rock falls next to him. Surely, that little badge wasn’t holding up this entire mess? No, it wasn’t, but it definitely seems to have upset some rocks. Too distracted by the object in his hands-he knows what it is, it makes no sense, there’s absolutely no way it’s right, he doesn’t notice the falling rock headed straight towards him.

 

When Hajime can think again, his head is throbbing, and there’s something in his hand. He opens his eyes slowly, recoiling from the light around him. He recognizes the room as Makoto’s and Hokuto, Mao, and Tori are also in the room. He can’t help but wonder where Makoto is, vaguely, before his fuzzy mind remembers the explosion. Unfortunately, everything after seeing the blast doesn’t make sense-a flash of pink, maybe, and then darkness.

“He’s alive,” Mao says, and Hajime turns his head a little bit. Tori looks worried, not much better than he did last night, and Hajime can’t help but feel guilty for making him worry like that again. Then again, he’s alive, so there’s nothing to worry about.

“Shino, what is this?” Mao asks, holding up a small, metal shape. It’s mostly rectangular but broken at the bottom. Hajime feels like he should know what it is, but he can’t, he absolutely cannot. “You got knocked out by a falling rock, and this was in your hand.” Hajime shakes his head no, too sore and tired to think of what it could be. There’s a spot of white paint on part of it, but the rest of the color is completely gone, leaving a standard metal shape behind.

“I-I don’t remember,” he says, closing his eyes against the light in the room. It’s still too much for his sore head to handle.

“One other question,” Hokuto asks, and Hajime opens one eye to look at him.

“Have you see Yuuki?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> merry christmas / happy holidays! i hope everyone has a great holiday season and a happy new year. thanks for sticking with me so far!  
> twitter @squirrellissa


	29. 5-4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hajime’s mind sputters to a halt as fast as his legs as he approaches the figure. They’re slumped against the door, and from his current proximity Hajime can start to smell something distinctly bloody. He takes a few more steps until he can shine the light on the figure better, and he knows exactly who he’s looking at.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> happy new year's! i'm sorry in advance

Unfortunately, no, no one in the room had actually seen Makoto after they split up. At this point, the group has two options on what to do next- they can either go look for him, or they can hope that Makoto will find his way back to his own room and wait for him there. However, the fact that a motive has been put in place is a sure reason for concern.

Judging by how pale Hajime looks, he probably won’t be getting up and running around the campus anytime soon. It’s getting late, as well, which brings up another problem. If (god forbid) Makoto has actually been killed, none of them will sleep again for at least another ten to eleven hours.

“Why don’t we split up? Himemiya, you should stay here and look after Shino,” Mao suggests. “We can come back in an hour or two, and switch. That way if something does happen, we’ll both have gotten at least a little sleep.” he reasons, and it’s pretty difficult to agree with his logic.

“We’ll do ninety minute shifts. It’s about 10 now, so Hokuto and I will look until 11:30. You should sleep until then.” Hajime nods wordlessly, and Tori doesn’t respond, although he doesn’t seem to have any objections either. With that, the two second years leave Makoto’s room, leaving the other two behind.

“Do you really think Yuuki’s dead?” Hokuto asks as soon as the door closes behind them. Mao shrugs, unsure of what to think. The past hour or so has flown by so quickly that it’s hard to tell what actually happened, and what’s only a production of his mind, trying to process everything so quickly.

“I...I don’t really know,” Mao admits with a tired laugh. “I don’t want him to be, but with this motive, with any motive, it’s hard to trust anyone here. And that’s coming from me, I guess.” He knows that the optimist in him is starting to die, as would anyone’s optimism in a situation like theirs. Of course, no one wants their friend to die, but at this point that kind of misfortune seems almost inevitable.

“If something is going to happen, maybe we can try to stop it,” he adds, moving towards the exit of the dormitory building. The night is dark, the moon being partially covered by clouds with only a few beams of silvery-white light peeking through. With the level of light, Mao knows it will be hard to look for anything, especially if he and Hokuto get tired.

“Should we get flashlights? They should be in the gardening shed.” Hokuto suggests. Mao nods, changing his direction so he’s headed to the gardening shed instead of the main school building.

“Yeah, good idea.” The air isn’t particularly cold, but Mao definitely has chills right now. Being alone on the campus at night like this is downright creepy, especially given the circumstances. He can only imagine what it must have been like for Arashi and Mika when they found Subaru’s body. Back then, no one was expecting any murders to happen. Now, they felt almost inevitable.

Mao couldn’t tell which one was worse.

Luckily (or maybe unluckily), their first search turned up nothing. An hour and a half spent wandering around the campus, only to find absolutely nothing. No signs of Makoto, dead or alive.

But who could tell? Maybe he was alive, and had gone back to his room. Maybe, when Mao and Hokuto got back, Makoto would be in his room, typing away at their laptop, no doubt. Then, they’d all go back to their rooms and get some sleep, because death at this point was unavoidable and they all needed to be prepared for when it happened.

However, they didn’t get their lucky scenario. When they got back to Makoto’s room, quietly opening the door as not to disturb the first-years inside, the other Trickstar member was still nowhere to be seen. All that was inside was Tori and Hajime, peacefully sleeping next to each other. They don’t seem too deep into sleep, or rather, Hajime doesn’t. He wakes up when Mao turns on the bedside lamp.

“It’s eleven-thirty,” Mao explains, trying to be quiet and gentle with his voice while Hajime half-heartedly shakes Tori awake. It’s not like these two want to be woken up so they can patrol for potential murder, after all.

Tori looks none-too-happy about being woken up, but he seems to understand the weight of the situation at the very least. Mao’s noticed in the past day he’s spent around the first-year, he’s seemed a lot more mellowed out, less ‘bratty’, for lack of a better word. Perhaps Eichi’s death had a stronger effect on him than what Mao would have presumed.

“Take these and go,” Mao urges the first-years, handing them the flashlights. He can hear Hokuto typing something on the computer behind him, so maybe there’s something important there they need to look at. As the two younger boys leave, Mao can’t help but notice how pale Hajime still looks, and there’s a moment of worry that he’s a lot more injured than he looks. Nonetheless, he doesn’t seem to be stumbling or confused, so he should be okay to walk around for a bit.

“Is there something on there, Hokuto?” Mao drags a chair over, yawning and almost missing the seat when he tries to sit down. All of this worry for Makoto, for Hajime, for Ritsu, and for everyone else is really starting to exhaust him.

“I want to see if there’s a security camera feed on here,” he explains, typing something into what Mao thinks is a search bar. He’s still in the same red-and-black themed menu that Mao’s grown accustomed to seeing on the laptop screen.

“Although, I’m not really sure what to do,” he admits, scrolling through a list of results before typing in another search query. “Yuuki would be a lot better at this than I am.” Mao agrees wordlessly, nodding and stifling another yawn with his elbow.

“You should sleep if you’re tired,” Hokuto still doesn’t lift his eyes from the monitor, although he looks as exhausted as Mao feels. “We have to be prepared, in case something...you know.”

“I’ll be okay,” Mao insists, waving a hand dismissively before putting his elbow on the desk and resting his head on his hand. He’s used to dealing with Ritsu’s bizarre sleeping schedules, so he trusts his body to pull through if he really does need to stay awake for an impossibly long stretch of time. Although, his eyes are starting to feel a lot heavier than he’d like to admit.

 

“Tori-kun?” Hajime asks as soon as the two have left Makoto’s room. He can’t shake the uneasy feeling in his stomach that something bad did happen to his upperclassman, although Tori looks about the same as he feels. Tired and concerned.

“Don’t you have that one senpai...uh, he’s in the Tennis Club….who’s a little obsessed with Yuuki?” He’s hesitant to ask the question, Hajime knows that Tori and Izumi kind of...clash, but from what he knows (not a lot), Hajime feels like Izumi could, potentially, be involved.

“Are you saying we should ask him?” Tori almost sounds angry, and Hajime takes a step back, ready to back out of his question immediately. However, upon seeing that he’s frightened Hajime a little, Tori’s face softens. “I mean, it’s not a bad idea…”

Thanks to the nameplates on each door, Izumi’s room isn’t too difficult to find. Hajime and Tori stand in front of the door, exchanging glances instead of trying to do anything to actually get inside.

“Is he going to be mad if we wake him up?” Hajime asks, whispering like Izumi can actually hear them through the soundproof doors. 

“Probably, he’s always annoyed with something,” Tori says, rather nonchalantly, reaching to ring the doorbell since Hajime obviously isn’t going to. The hesitation is radiating off of Hajime in waves, so it’s probably for the best that they get this over with. He pushes the button, and stares down the door, waiting for Izumi to come to the door in the silent hallway. However, no one responds, so Tori rings the doorbell again, this time with a bit more force and about five pushes. When no one comes to the door after that, it’s pretty clear that Izumi isn’t actually in his room. Given the circumstances, it could be a problem.

“Should we go tell Isara-senpai and Hidaka-senpai?” Hajime asks, turning away from the door. “No, we need to let them sleep, in case-” he cuts himself off, trying to will himself to stay positive. The two first years make their way towards the building’s exit, turning on the flashlights when they get outside. 

“Where do we go first?” Tori asks, making finger puppets against the flashlight’s beam of gold light. “That creepy underground room is a good place to hide a body, don’t you think?” Hajime doesn’t respond. He doesn’t have a better idea, and he’s a bit taken aback by how...morbid Tori’s statement was. If he remembers correctly, the entrance to that room was in the auditorium, right? Tori’s begun walking in that direction, at any rate, so he might as well follow him. He knows enough from hearing his classmates talk about horror movies that the ones who split up are always the ones who die.

The auditorium door creaks a little when Tori opens it, making both him and Hajime flinch away. The dark, open space would be a perfect hiding place for a villain, so the both walk with the flashlights pointed directly in front of them like weapons until they find the light panel. It’s on a section of wall in the back of the room, and they mess with the switches until light floods the auditorium.

The next step is to find the entrance to the secret room-hidden under a few loose floorboards on the stage. In all honesty, it’s a bit of a miracle no one ever fell down there while the school was still being used as a school. The loose boards are a bit off-color, a tiny bit lighter than the rest of the stage, so they’re easy to find. Once they’re removed, Tori offers to go down the ladder that leads underground first, as he can feel Hajime’s anxiety radiating off of him in near-palpable waves.

When he places a foot on one of the metal rungs, he nearly loses his footing immediately. The metal is oddly slippery where he placed his foot-strange, because there’s no water or anything in the area that could make it so slippery. He warns Hajime about the problem before he’s too far away to be heard, and then begins to descend the ladder.

After about a minute, Hajime steels his nerves enough to be able to climb down the ladder. His hands are shaking a little bit, and, yea, the slippery spot Tori mentioned is definitely there. He doesn’t lost his footing, gripping will all of his strength to the cold metal ladder. The flashlight is tucked in between his shirt and his chest, which is uncomfortable, but it doesn’t feel like the flashlight is going to fall anytime soon.

A sudden light from below startles Hajime, but he recovers in time to keep himself from falling. The light beam is the same color as the flashlight’s light, so it must be Tori shining the light for Hajime to see better. Counting the rungs of the ladder helps Hajime focus on not slipping up, giving him something to focus on instead of beginning to drift off. He’s exhausted and still not feeling amazing, after all.

There’s a sudden, shrill yell from the bottom of the latter, and the light disappears with what could only be the flashlight falling to the ground. Hajime’s heart almost stops in his chest, because the only person who could have made that noise was Tori. As soon as his heart recovers, it begins to race, his palms beginning to shake and slip off of the ladder.

And slip he does.

Hajime feels himself falling before he realizes that the ladder isn’t underneath him anymore. Desperately, unsure of how far he has to fall, the first-year reaches out, managing to snag a rung with his left hand. It pulls his shoulder up at a painful angle, too fast and too hard, but he manages to hang on. Fortunately, there’s not much more ground to cover, and he makes it to the ground in one piece.

His flashlight, miraculously, survived the fall, and Hajime pulls it out as quickly as he can with shaking hands. When the flips on the flashlight, his vision blurs for a moment, adjusting to the light and his level of anxiety before he can see clearly. He finds Tori’s flashlight, picks it up, and takes off as fast as he can towards the main underground room. He’s not a very fast runner, and imagining what could possible be happening to Tori makes it harder to breathe, but Hajime manages to make it to his destination.

Out of the corner of his eye, he spots an open door, spilling gold-green light into the reddish hue of the main room. He’s never seen it opened before, but there has to be an important reason it was opened. The tunnel behind the door has enough light that there’s no need for the flashlight, so Hajime turns it off and runs down the path.

His legs are about to give out, he thinks, as the passageway begins to get dimmer and dimmer. The lights on the wall are getting more and more spread out, and he pulls out his flashlight to be able to see better. When he shines it down the hallway, he can tell there’s a closed door at the very end. However, there’s a figure blocking the doorway, and they don’t look very...alive.

Hajime’s mind sputters to a halt as fast as his legs as he approaches the figure. They’re slumped against the door, and from his current proximity Hajime can start to smell something distinctly bloody. He takes a few more steps until he can shine the light on the figure better, and he knows exactly who he’s looking at. Staring blankly ahead with a look of what could only be anger on his face and covered in knife marks; Izumi Sena.

Hajime knows the scream he hears is his own, but it doesn’t really register with him. He’s sure he’s about to pass out again, for a moment, before his vision focuses again and he’s grounded once more. Hand shaking, he sets down the flashlight and takes his ID card out of his pocket-miraculously, that survived the ladder disaster as well. Worried that no one will believe him if he just tries to say he found a dead body (and unsure if he’d even be able to vocalize that), he takes a picture. It feels incredibly...wrong, wrong and dirty, to do that, but he feels he’s almost got no choice.

Picking his flashlight up, Hajime makes his way out of the tunnel as best as he can with his legs shaking so badly. He needs fresh air so badly, but he can’t climb that ladder again, so he makes his way through a different tunnel to the dormitory, and immediately goes back outside. There’s three people already out there, and he makes a beeline for them. It’s Mao, and the two Sakumas, and Hajime has never been so grateful to see people he’s familiar with.

“Shino! Are you alright?” Mao is the first to see him, and Hajime shakes his head no, all but falling into the older boy. He can feel three pairs of eyes burning into him, and it makes him even more self-conscious about how fragile he is. Wrestling with his pocket for a moment, Hajime pulls his ID out and finds the picture of Izumi, nearly dropping the object when he tries to hold it out.

Mao’s arm is around Hajime’s shoulder, and he can feel the second-year tense up the second he sees the picture. Ritsu’s shocked “Secchan?” follows, and he doesn’t hear the older Sakuma brother say anything.

“T-tori-kun,” he starts unable to form words properly. “W-we were...underground, someone…” He shakes his head no, too worked up to be able to finish his sentence. Mao seems to understand, at least, his arm tightening around Hajime’s shoulders a little more. A cold hand grabs one of Hajime’s, the one not rubbing his eyes, and Hajime looks to see Ritsu standing on his other side. His eyes are blank, expressionless, and Hajime can only guess what’s running through his head.

“Ritsu.” The second-year lifts his head a little bit to look at his brother. Despite how much he seems to dislike Rei, Ritus’s eyes don’t seem to hold any malice in this moment-just exhaustion.

“Are you alright?” Ritsu shrugs, but by the way his hand twitches in Hajime’s, the first-year can tell he’s really not. Rei tells the group he’ll find someone from Undead and bring them down to the underground room so that they can set off the body alarm for Izumi.

Mao takes the silence as his cue to explain to Hajime what happened after he and Tori left Makoto’s room. He and Hokuto had both fallen asleep, not for a long time, when someone had rang the doorbell. It was Leo, Arashi, and Ritsu, and apparently Ritsu had dragged the other two there because he ‘couldn’t find Secchan’ and thought Mao would know where he was. He didn’t know how Ritsu made that connection, but he did explain that they were looking for security cameras on the laptop before him and Hokuto fell asleep, so they could try that. When asked why Ritsu knew Mao was in Makoto’s room, he told Mao that he ‘always knew where his Maakun was’, which was probably the closest thing they’d get to a sensible answer from him.

Unfortunately, while they did find cameras, the feed was too blurry to make anything out. Therefore, the five decided to split up and look for Izumi, and Makoto: Mao and Hokuto had explained that he was missing as well. When they got outside, Ritsu had pulled Mao aside, saying he had something to tell him. Before he could say anything, however, the two saw Rei, and Mao explained the situation to him as he figured that getting as many people to search as possible would be the best.

As Mao finished explaining, a loud and familiar bell goes off, followed by the body discovery announcement. That means that either Rei and someone else found Izumi, or-someone else’s body was found. Moments later, Hokuto, Arashi, and Leo come out of the school building, running towards Hajime, Mao and Ritsu stand.

“Yuuki is-” Hokuto is cut off by a loud bell, and another announcement. He pales, eyes widening a little bit. “Who else?”

“Secchan,” Ritsu answers first, looking rather interested in the ground. A silence falls over the group, and Hajime can see the surprise and hurt on Leo and Arashi’s faces. They were both in Izumi’s unit, after all. Hokuto sighs, clearing his throat awkwardly, before speaking again.

“Yuuki is dead as well. Classroom 2-A.” Mao nods, looking down. They didn’t really expect anything else-the blonde had been missing for far too long for him to have a chance of showing up alive.

“H-have you seen Tori-kun?” Hajime asks, quietly. It dawns on him that someone who was already awake, has to be the one who grabbed Tori, unless someone was awake after nighttime started and he didn’t know about that. He wasn’t sure where that door behind Izumi’s body led, so someone could have killed Izumi, taken Tori and gotten out through that door. When no one answers him, he knows that no, no one has seen Tori. 

“We need to find him.” Mao says, straightening up a little bit. “I don’t really think we’ll be in danger if we split up, because a killer can only target two people. Let’s meet back here in an hour and report what we find.” Hajime heads towards the school, because maybe if he doesn’t find anything of interest, he’ll go back through the auditorium and try to open the door behind Izumi.

When he gets around the back of the school, he hears two voices-one belongs to Rei, and he can’t quite place the other. He looks around, trying to find the voices, and sees that the other one belongs to Kaoru-they must have set off the alarm for Izumi. There’s a door open near them, so they probably just came out of the school.

“Shino-kun, are you looking for someone?” Hajime jumps when he’s addressed, having walked by the two third-years. He doesn’t exactly know where he’s going, but then again, does anyone looking for Tori know where they’re going? Probably not.

“Tori-kun,” he explains, quietly, although it’s quiet enough outside that the two third years hear him.

“Do you need help?” Hajime nods, biting the inside of his lip. There’s a sinking feeling in his stomach again, telling him that he’s probably not going to like what he sees when he does find Tori again. He continues in the direction he walked in, silent, until he trips over something.

“Is this yours?” Hajime turns around to see Kaoru holding something in his hand-it looks like the small stuffed bear Tori has, and he shakes his head no. Hajime reaches his hand out for it anyways, looking it over and confirming that it is, in fact, Tori’s. Taking a deep breath and tucking the bear into one of his pockets, Hajime’s about to start walking again when he heards another voice behind him.

“Is that smoke?” He follows a hand, looking up to see something grey rising in the air. It’s where the school’s incinerator would be, if he remembers correctly, which is-really not good. It means someone might be burning evidence. There’s a bit of renewed energy in Hajime’s step when he walks to find the source of the smoke.

Sure enough, when he gets to the incinerator, the little light on the side that informs him the incinerator is in use is on. The front of the incinerator has two doors that pull open, and Hajime notices something wedged in between them. He can’t tell what it is, although he’s not sure he wants to know what it is, until he’s close enough to tell what it is.

“Is there something in-oh.” Hajime stares straight ahead, barely registering the voice behind him when he hears a loud bell go off, followed by a body discovery announcement. Three dead people-it has to be a joke, it has to be a nightmare, this whole situation has to be a joke. Blindly, Hajime approaches the incinerator further, ignoring the voices behind him that tell him to walk away, he’s going to hurt himself if he gets too close.

With as much strength as he build up at this point, Hajime pulls the object wrenched between the doors out. It makes him feel sick to his stomach, and he’s worried he might actually be physically ill for a moment. Just as he expected, the object fits perfectly in his hand-as it should. After all, he was holding it in his hand like this, just a couple hours ago, sleeping peacefully next to Tori.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> well...that happened  
> poor hajime can't catch a break
> 
> thank you for reading! i'm not a sadist i promise  
> twitter @squirrellissa


	30. 5-5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A strong sense of deja vu hangs in the darkened classroom, the atmosphere some reminiscent of finding Subaru so many days ago.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> part one of the investigation!! it got too lengthy so i split it

Mao was expecting a third death after hearing about Tori’s disappearance, but it didn’t make the fact any less startling. Because of the new rule, there has to be multiple killers. With only eight hours to investigate three deaths, they have a lot of work to do.

Unfortunately, Ritsu is also clinging to Mao’s arm and refusing to let it go. Of course, he understands why, but it doesn’t lessen the annoyance. When trying to physically shake Ritsu off fails, Mao settles for trying to verbally force Ritsu to detach.

“Ritchan, come on, we’ve gotta move.” Ritsu blinks up at Mao sadly, and Mao almost falters, before Ritsu’s grip loosens on his arm. Mao pulls away, not wanting to leave Ritsu but also knowing that things need to get done. Making coffee, for example, so he doesn’t fall asleep and break a rule.

“Maa~kun, wait.” Ritsu’s grip is loose on the end of Mao’s sleeve, trying to get attention. When Mao turns around, Ritsu’s posture looks different. He doesn’t look tired, he almost looks possessed, something not entirely himself-not entirely human. His head is tilted forward, hair covering his eyes to the point where Mao can’t see them.

“Maa~kun, you need to stay with me. It’s dangerous.” Mao steps closer to Ritsu, trying to get a better read on his expression.

“Don’t be crazy, I’m looking out for myself. Are you al-” Ritsu’s nails move to dig into Mao’s skin instead of his jacket.

“If anyone touches you, I’ll kill them.” Ritsu’s staring right at Mao now, his eyes so angry they seem to glow. Mao recoils from Ritsu, partially in shock from what he just said, and partially because Ritsu really didn’t need to have such a painful grip on him. He understands that Ritsu’s upset, but he really shouldn’t be making death threats.

“Maa~kun, you’re all I have left.” Ritsu’s expression softens the tiniest amount, but Mao can tell he’s forcing himself. He pulls his hand out of Ritsu’s, feeling sharp nails score down his skin. Holding his hand to his chest Mao tries to push the exhaustion out of his brain enough to think logically.

“Ritchan, I think you need to rest.” is what comes out of his mouth, although Mao isn’t exactly sure what he meant to say. He’s walking away before he can make the situation worse, deciding that maybe some caffeine will let him think better.

In the process of making coffee, Mao turns around to look for something with a lid to put the coffee in and notices a long, red smear down the back of one of the counters. He panics for a moment-is there a fourth person dead, that’s impossible-before he sees the same red on the back of his left hand-the one Ritsu had grabbed. Sure enough, there are scratches down the back of his hand, red around the edges and deep enough to be bleeding. Apparently, Ritsu had much sharper nails than Mao remembered.

Unfortunately, the cuts don’t seem to have any intention of scabbing over, not with how much his hand is probably going to be moving, so Mao knows he has to cover the marks. Of course, there’s not a band-aid in the kitchen big enough to cover all of the back of his hand. He can probably make something makeshift with paper towels and run to the infirmary later.

The coffee machine beeps just then and Mao jumps despite himself, startled by the noise in the otherwise silent kitchen. Reaching for the cup he found, Mao notices a little bit of blood on his palm, from where he’d held his hand. Wiping it on the inside of his jacket so no one will see it, Mao fills up the cup. There’s some extra coffee left so he pours another mug, figuring someone else might want it at some point.

While Mao’s trying to wash the blood off of the back of his hand, the bell on the kitchen’s door rings, alerting him of the presence of another person in the room. He looks over his head, keeping his hand under the water, and sees Hokuto standing in the doorway. He waves with the other hand, trying to shoot a smile over his shoulder despite the fact that his hand really hurts under the hot water.

“Want some coffee?” Mao asks as Hokuto approaches, although the other seems more interested as to why Mao’s washing his hands. He understands why-three people are dead, trying to ‘wash off’ anything would be suspicious then. 

“Ritsu scratched me pretty hard, my hand’s bleeding,” he explains, shutting off the water and reaching for a roll of paper towels, ripping a jagged piece off with one hand and gently wiping the water off of his hand. The motion breaks open any skin that might have closed, and Mao groans when he sees red staining the paper. Hokuto seems to understand the problem, at least. He give Mao a look that comes off as concerned but unsurprised.

“Is Ritchan still outside? I told him to go get some rest.” Hokuto nods silently, handing Mao another sheet of paper towels. He wraps the paper towels as tightly as he can, fastening them with his hair clip. It makes Mao’s hair fall into his face which is inconvenient, but he can probably deal with that later. He finds the two cups of coffee he made, which are just warm enough to not hurt when carrying them, and heads for the door before Hokuto’s voice stops him.

“Isara, wait. I need to ask you something.”

 

At first, Koga doesn’t exactly know how he wound up searching the campus with Arashi and Mika, but it could have been worse, he figured. At least now, he didn’t have that vampire bastard bugging him about being a ‘diligent puppy’. His only complaint, maybe it's the just the hour, who knows-is that Arashi is almost sickly affectionate towards Mika. It’s not a personal offence, but there’s a time and a place for their ‘love shit’ as he’s going to refer to it, which isn't a murder scene. 

The three are on their way to classroom 2-A. Along the way, something hits Koga, about why he’s tagging along with these two. Adonis. He knew Adonis and Arashi shared some sort of bond from being on the track team together, and knowing Adonis, he’d want to make sure she was safe even from beyond the grave. That knowledge makes it a little more bearable to deal with Arashi and Mika’s conversation-he’s doing it for Adonis, right. 

Obviously, that logic doesn't come without a sense of pain either. A sense of jealousy as well, seeing the other two get along so well. Of course he doesn’t need someone to come rushing to comfort him (which if he remembers correctly, is something Mika needs) during a tragedy. The three get to the top of the stairs on the second floor. Light radiates out from a classroom at the end of hallway-probably the 2-A classroom. The door is open, and the room is completely silent. 

A strong sense of deja vu hangs in the darkened classroom, the atmosphere some reminiscent of finding Subaru so many days ago. Koga looks in the room, trying to find the any tell-tale sign of a corpse. What he’s looking for proves easy to find, however, and Koga takes a couple hesitant steps towards the figure in the back of the room. Makoto is slumped over a desk on the other side of the room, something sticking out of his back. Although Koga is the first one in the room, he feels something grab his hand moments later-Mika, pale as a ghost, with Arashi nowhere to be seen. 

“Naru-chan stopped ta look at somethin’ in the hall,” Mika explains, still clinging to Koga’s hand. He’s not an extremely affectionate person himself, but seeing how scared Mika looks, Koga can’t bring himself to push the other away. A moment later, Arashi steps into the room, waving a piece of paper. She holds it with just the tip of her thumb and pointer finger-a good idea, as something crimson red streaks down the paper’s side.

“Leo Tsukinaga,” Arashi reads, waving the paper once more. “But I can’t seem to find the other one.”

“Other?” Koga asks. Mika still holds onto his hand, but now reaches for one of Arashi’s as well.

“The second name,” Arashi responds, taking Mika’s free hand. “They came on separate pieces of paper, didn’t you get two?” Koga shakes his head no, swallowing down a lump of emotion in his throat-talking about this motive makes him think about Adonis, goddamnit. He didn’t actually ask anyone else who they recieved, especially not after Mademoiselle outlawed that, so it would have been impossible for him to know about people getting multiple names, anyways.

“I got Adonis-chan and Mika-chan,” Arashi carefully folds the bloody paper and puts it in her jacket pocket. She grimaces a little at the half-dries blood that sticks to her fingertips, and wipes it off on a nearby desk. “Mika-chan got his Oshi-san, and yours truly.” Mika nods in confirmation, shooting the dead body in the room another nervous glance. He almost looks as if he expects it to come back to life at any moment.

“Koga-chan, do you want to start? Just give Mika-chan and I a minute.” Arashi smiles lightly, turning a little bit to block the majority of the classroom from Mika’s view. Mika drops Koga’s hand, who in turn makes some kind of noise of confirmation. As he approaches Makoto’s body further, he’s convinced he can smell blood in the air.

The front of Koga’s foot steps on something definitely a lot slicker the floor, and raised as well. He’s not sure what it is, but he can assume some things and decides that moving to stand somewhere else is a lot better, even if it means staring at Makoto’s dead face head-on.

Koga decides it has to be some kind of morbid curiosity that drives him to look a little closer at Makoto’s face. His eyes are glossed over, hazy, but his expression is pained nonetheless. Once hand curls over the front of the desk in a white-knuckle grip, the other bent at a strange angle by his side. The right lens of his glasses is shattered, small remnants on the desk next to Makoto’s head.

The thing pinning Makoto to the desk, which Koga originally thought looked like one large objects, actually consists of several small ones. Despite the nagging feeling in the back of his brain telling him to stop, Koga pulls one of the objects free. Luckily, the Makoto’s body doesn’t move, and nothing seems to change about the scene.

Arashi and Mika stand on the other side of the desk, and Koga doesn’t notice them at first. Unfortunately, Mika seems to step on the same...whatever...Koga did earlier, letting out some kind of high-pitched noise of terror and jumping at Arashi. Luckily, Arashi reacts quickly enough to catch Mika and keep him from falling into a desk, or knocking both of them over.

“Be fuckin’ careful,” Koga hisses, moving his arm and with it, whatever object currently sits with his hand up, just a little bit too fast. He doesn’t really know what he planned to do with the arm, but something definitely just flew off of the object in his hand and definitely just landed on his face. It’s warm and wet, and Koga finds himself making a noise similar to the one Mika just let out and nearly jumping out of his skin. The object in his hand flies out, clattering the the floor. Arashi picks it up, turning it over in her hands a couple times.

“It’s an arrow.” She holds the arrow the same way she’d held the paper with Leo’s name on it-in between her thumb and forefinger,and very very close to the end. Behind her, Koga can see Mika struggling to conceal a laugh-probably because of Koga’s little accident. Which reminds him, whatever this stuff is, he really doesn’t want it on his skin, let alone his damn face, for much longer.

“I’ve gotta get this shit off my face,” he insists, backing away a little bit. Arashi nods, she seems to completely understand, and Koga takes off down the hallway, muttering curses under his breath.

 

“Tetsu, it’s a body. You’ve seen them before.” The first-year in question nods, still unable to draw his eyes away from the bloody mess in front of him. He didn’t know Izumi very well personally, but from what he’d heard the third-year didn’t seem the type to go down easily. Then again, that would explain the amount of marks on his body, and the look of anger on his face.

The body files had buzzed into the ID cards a few minutes ago. Keito, who’d tagged along with Tetora and Kuro at the latter’s request focused more on the card in his hand than the body in front of him. The fact that three people turned up dead definitely comes as a shock, but it adds a sense of urgency to the case-a lot of investigation work to be done in a small time window.

Just from looking at the files, Keito can’t tell how many killers there should be. Each victim’s body has different wounds marked in their file. Makoto’s arm is colored red, along with a large circle spanning most of his abdomen. Izumi has small marks scattered across his body, which perfectly matches the real thing in front of Keito. However, Tori’s file is arguably the most concerning-his entire body is colored red, except for his right hand.

The file makes it seem like there might be nothing left of Tori apart from the hand, which will definitely be problematic-how are they supposed to investigate when there’s no body there to investigate? Deciding that’s a question better asked when that problem is brought up, Keito makes a mental note of the order of deaths (Makoto, a gap, then Tori, then Izumi only a minute or two after).

There isn’t a weapon on the scene, although the wounds look like they were probably made by a knife. While Tetora and Kuro seem to be focused on something on the floor, Keito spots something strange about Izumi-namely, his hand is curled into a fist. When he crouches down and grabs the hand, it’s still slightly warm to the touch. Luckily, Keito doesn’t have a lot of trouble prying the hand open. 

In Izumi’s hand sits a small, soft object, probably only a couple centimeters long. The object itself is made out of a brown fabric, but white fluff spills from the end of it, a couple clumps sitting in Izumi’s opened hand. Mostly likely, it belongs to some kind of stuffed animal, although why one would be on the school campus is a bit of a mystery. Deciding to keep the small object, Keito pockets it and pauses a moment later when he hears Kuro say something that doesn’t really make sense.

“Hey, Hidaka is one of the Trickstar boys, right?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello sorry for not updating..,I've been studying for midterms oh boy
> 
> hopefully part 2 will be out soon!! in the meantime i'm gonna try to go back and edit my typos,,
> 
> as always, thanks for reading!  
> twitter @squirrellissa


	31. 5-6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mao nods, muttering some half form of apology. He doesn’t know exactly why he’s become so distracted, but a sudden sinking feeling in his stomach has left him feeling like there’s something bad to come.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello! sorry for the wait! if you follow me on twitter you might know my life's been a bit hectic between midterms, school in general and the rei event which i am regretfully ranking for, but snow days mean i found time to write again!

Mao and Hokuto make it to the infirmary with no incidents, and they’re on their way back out when Arashi almost literally runs into them. Mika accompanies her, a few steps behind the blonde. There’s something wrapped around his hand, it looks like a piece of blue fabric. From where Mao stands, it looks pretty clean, so they probably didn’t find it on a body or on the ground.

“Oh, Hokuto-chan, Mao-chan!” Her smile and overall friendly demeanor is clearly forced. “Have you seen Koga-chan? He was just with us a little while ago.” She shifts on her heels a little, looking into the infirmary behind Hokuto and Mao, then down either side of the hall before sighing lightly.

“Naru-chan, he’s probably back there again,” Mika makes a motion with his hand towards the end of the hallway the two came from. Mao knows that room 2-A is somewhere in that direction. His heart jumps into his throat for a moment, before settling down back into his chest. He actually hasn’t seen any of the bodies yet-probably a problem because the investigation period only has about 6 and a half hours remaining. Hopefully, the knowledge that not one, not two, but three deaths need to be investigated will ensure people are doing their best to look for clues.

“Do you think so? He seemed pretty disturbed.” Arashi pauses for a moment. “Mika-chan and I will probably go back to 2-A then. Are you coming with us?” Mao opens his mouth to say yes, but instead finds himself shaking his head no.

“I think we’ll go down to where Sena-senpai is first,” he decides. “I’m not sure we’re ready for...you know…” he trails off. Mao doesn’t know what Hokuto thinks, but he still feels...guilty, regretful maybe, for letting Makoto die. Obviously, there was too much chaos for him to keep an eye on everyone, but he still feels like there’s something he could have done to prevent this. Arashi nods in understanding, and she and Mika turn back around to walk to 2-A. Mao remains silent, watching them go for a moment before Hokuto pulls his hand. The uninjured one, of course.

“Isara, we don’t have time to stand around,” he reminds. Mao nods, muttering some half form of apology. He doesn’t know exactly why he’s become so distracted, but a sudden sinking feeling in his stomach has left him feeling like there’s something bad to come. Of course, it could always just be exhaustion-which he’ll pass it off as for now, following Hokuto towards the auditorium.

There’s already a few people downstairs when Hokuto and Mao arrive. Kuro and Tetora seem to be looking over an actual, physical body, while Keito and Yuzuru are looking at...a laptop? Hokuto stops short, seemingly having the same thoughts as Mao-they left the laptop in Makoto’s room, so how did it get to the underground hallway? Not to mention, the hallway itself is strange. Hajime had only described it in light detail, too shaken to do much besides that.

The light from the laptop (which is fairly dim) is the main source of light-everything else comes from an ID card flashlight. Hokuto walks towards where Kuro and Tetora are, so Mao approaches Keito and Yuzuru instead. He gives them a small greeting, just so they know he’s there, before sitting down next to them and staring at the laptop.

Mao’s heart and mind skip a very confused beat when he sees the laptop screen. It’s something he recognizes very well-it’s the ‘Project Revolution’ program, but it looks different. The menu bar on the side of the screen, for example-this account doesn’t seem to have most of the video files Mao has, but there’s a new option he didn’t ever see- ‘Security’.

“What is this?” He asks, unsure of whether to point to the laptop or the ‘Security’ tab specifically. Neither of the others respond for a moment, until Keito speaks.

“We aren’t exactly sure,” he starts. “We found the laptop down here, and it was logged into this program under Fushimi’s name. It was just chance that he came down here as well.” Yuzuru doesn’t say anything, still switching through menus on the program until he clicks on the ‘Security’ button.

The little loading symbol spins on the screen a few times, and then something very interesting pops up on the laptop screen: something that looks a lot like security camera footage. It shows classroom 2-A, where there are currently 5 people, along with Makoto’s body. The living people in the room look like Arashi, Mika, Koga, Chiaki, and Midori. A timestamp at the bottom of the screen reads ‘2:17 am’, and a quick check of his ID confirms to Mao that the feed is live. However, there are rewind, fast forward, and pause buttons on the bottom of the screen. Keito seems to have the same idea Mao does, as he reaches for the laptop. Mao watches as Yuzuru jumps holding onto the laptop for what feels like a moment too long before realizing Keito wants it, and lets go. 

Keito presses the rewind button, and the footage begins to do exactly what it’s ben asked. Starts to. After a minute or two of scrolling through standard-looking footage, the screen stars to glitch, flickering with random colors, switching between color and black-and-white, and overall shaking. As soon as it started, the glitching stops, and the footage continues to rewind as if nothing happened, showing an empty room a little before 11:00 pm. 

 

It takes a while for Hajime to begin to think logically again, and when he does, Mitsuru has joined the pairs of worried eyes looking at him. Startled, he begins to apologize before being quickly cut off and told not to. Muttering something about making tea, the first-year excuses himself from the scene rather quickly.

True to his word, he does actually end up in the cafeteria. In the back of the room, he can see Ritsu and Natsume, of all people, who seem to be having some kind of quiet argument. Hajime slips into the kitchen, going through familiar motions that help distract him from the fact that now Tori is dead. The sound of a bell ringing registers faintly in the back of his mind, but the feeling of a cold hand on his head startles Haime into alertness. Behind him stands Ritsu, an almost apologetic look on his face.

“...soft…” Ritsu mumbles, dropping his hand from Hajime’s head. He still looks upset, more upset than Hajime’s ever seen him. His eyes look shadowed, and he’s even paler than normal-something Hajime didn’t honestly know was possible. There’s an indent on his cheek, where he’s probably biting the inside of his mouth, like he wants to say something but can’t.

“I-is something wrong?” He manages to ask. He’s curious to know what Ritsu and Natsume were talking about, but that topic would be better addressed at a different time. If it was something Ritsu wanted to talk about, he’d probably complain about it, anyways.

“Maakun’s mad at me.” He crosses his arms, pouting. “He’s being unfair...he knows about Secchan.” Hajime doesn’t miss the way Ritsu’s voice skips a little over his last word. It makes hand twitch a little, feeling the emotion that radiates off the normally stoic Ritsu in waves. Sure, Ritsu complains about things, but he doesn’t normally seem truly, genuinely upset by most things.

“Take this,” Hajime says, deciding that maybe sharing some of the tea he’s made wouldn’t be a bad idea and forcing an empty cup into Ritsu’s hands. The older boy stares at his hands for a moment before a small smile crosses his features, and he brings the cup a little closer to his chest.

“Haakun is too kind.” he says, definitively. Unsure of how to respond, Hajime feels his face grow a little warm from the praise, and a little bit more when Ritus laughs and pats the top of Hajime’s head again. In the end, it seems that the small meeting with Hajime and a little bit of tea seemed to boost Ritsu’s spirit, at least a little bit. He never did mention specifically why Mao was mad at him, or what he had been talking to Natsume about. Not wanting to bring Ritsu’s mood down again, Hajime decided it was better to avoid those questions altogether.

Ritus leaves a few minutes before Hajime does. The younger boy staying behind to clean up the kitchen. It’s not particularly hard work, but Hajime takes his time, trying to find yet another distraction from reality. He’s done cleaning, about to shut the lights off, when something on the floor catches his eye. It’s too brightly-colored to be a part of the floor, although from a distance itce it doesn’t look like anything in particular. Just in case, Hajime walks over to the object and picks it up.

What looked like one object actually turns out to be two. The first is a small scrap of blue fabric, with what looks like dried blood on one edge of it. The other is a small amount of cotton-candy pink...something, Hajime doesn’t quite exactly know. It’s soft in his hands, made up of many little strands, almost like hair. Although, there’s no way Tori was in the kitchen, so he has no idea whose it could be.

 

Back in classroom 2-A, Mika continues to stare at the blue tie wrapped around his hand. He feels a little bad for taking it off of Makoto’s corpse-he moved a dead body to remove evidence, after all, but as long as he doesn’t lose it it’s going to be useful to have around. Shu has joined them as well, and although he doesn’t seem very fond of how loud Koga is being he says nothing.

“You need my assistance to determine if this is a school-issued tie?” He sounds a little frustrated to Mika, almost a little insulted. Arashi, who talks to him, seems completely unfazed by it, and continues the conversation.

“Aren’t there spare uniforms in the Handicrafts Club room? I’m just wondering if there’s anything we can do to know if this is fake, it was pretty out of place. Mika-chan, your Oshi-san is being difficult, please help me out a little?” Mika nods unsurprised that Shu might be a little more stubborn than usual at this hour. 

“They don’ match,” Mika explains, unrolling the tie that’s been wrapped around his hand, and pointing in the general direction of Makoto’s body with the other. He averts his gaze when he does, still unable to look at something so gruesome.

“The tie Mika-chan’s holding should have a hole in the middle, or be ripped in half,” Arashi explains. “We were wondering if someone took a spare from your club room.” Mika doesn’t know why Arashi asked for his help-she’s clearly much better than him at this whole talking to others thing, but he doesn’t say anything.

A quickly and rather uneventful trip to the handicrafts club room confirms that this tie belongs to someone-likely the killer. After all, no one else would have a motive to hide something with such a small amount of blood on it. Arashi quickly brings up the possibility of using DNA on the tie to find the killer, but both Mika and Shu don’t exactly know if the school even has the tools to do that, and in such a short amount of time.

And, that’s how Mika finds himself outside of a room labeled ‘biology lab’ with Arashi. Shu had decided his time was better spent somewhere else (likely after hearing Hajime was affected by the most recent string of killings) and left the two.

“Naru-chan, wasn’t this room locked?” Mika taps the door a few times with his finger. It’s heavy, made of metal, and cool to the touch. Arashi nods, a trace of a smile on her face before pulling a hairpin out of one of her pockets.

“I’m always prepared, Mika-chan,” she reminds, stepping up to the door’s handle and kneeling down to get a better look at it. There’s a few moments of silence while she looks, followed by the faint sound of the hairpin scratching at the lock. Then, an audible click. Arashi stands back up, looking rather pleased with herself while pocketing the hairpin.

She turns the door’s handle slowly, one hand outstretched towards Mika. A moment later, he gets the message-right, the tie-and hands it over to Arashi. She mutters her thanks, opening the door slightly. Even though he doesn’t stand directly in front of the door, Mika can still feel the sudden blast of cold air that comes out from within the room. He doesn’t miss the way Arashi’s face noticeably pales, either.

“Mika-chan...why don’t you stay out here?” She asks, almost too quickly, before adding, “It’s pretty cold, I might need you to warm me up after~” Mika nods in agreement. There seems to be another reason that Arashi doesn’t want him entering the room, but if Arashi says it’s a bad idea, then he has no reason to believe otherwise. Looking over her shoulder to make sure Mika is still there, Arashi gives him what looks like a very nervous smile before stepping into the lab, the door clicking shut behind her.

For a moment, Mika panics. Did Arshi just lock herself inside that strange, cold room? Then, he remembers, that the door is probably locked from the inside-she’ll be able to get out. If not, surely someone else would have the lock-picking ability needed to open the door again. Koga seemed like a likely candidate, and maybe Kuro too.

Mika waits in silence, hoping that whatever Arashi needs to do is getting done. It’s taking a lot longer than he thought-or his mind could just be wandering. Just as he’s about to start getting seriously worried, the door opens back up. Arashi looks...well, in all honesty, she looks a little bit traumatized, but she has the tie and a sheet of paper in her hand.

“Nothing.” She says, sighing and putting the tie in her pocket. “Mika-chan, it was so cold in there, share a little bit of your warmth?” Before Mika can give an answer, Arashi pulls him into a nearly suffocating hug. She’s shaking, he notices, arms shifting to reciprocate the gesture.

“Naru-chan, ‘s everythin’ okay? Yer shakin’ real bad...like ya saw a ghost, or somethin’...” Arashi tenses completely, giving a nervous laugh that’s a bit too loud to be anything but obviously faked. The laugh drops off suddenly, Arashi’s face growing dark with something that’s not quite worry, not quite anger, not quite frustration.

“Let’s…let’s not talk about that room, Mika-chan, okay? We’ve got better things to do.” As Arashi is normally a pretty open and honest person (at least, Mika likes to believe that), her response is pretty surprising. Nonetheless, she wouldn’t hide something from Mika without a good reason to...right?

 

The sun is finishing rising, casting golden-tinted light across the campus when the bell that signals the start of the trial goes off. The process has become almost like clockwork-arrive in front of the fountain, wait for Mademoiselle, and then begin the elevator descent down to the underground courtroom.

Even a few hours later, Mika still isn’t convinced that Arashi is okay. She’s pale. Very, concerningly pale, and her lips are drawn into a tight line, clearly thinking about something very hard.

“Are ya sure yer alright?” Mika asks, blindly reaching for Arashi’s hand. The elevator is dark, so he can’t really see where the blonde is, but he knows where she is well enough to find it. Arashi gives his hand a reassuring little squeeze, trying to project calm onto Mika’s skin. That’s really nothing new for either of them.

“Maybe we can talk when the trial is over,” Arashi says. Her voice sounds hopeful, promising.

Mika hopes they will.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> shit's probably about to go down...  
> say your best boy's prayers now if you'd like  
> as always, thanks for reading!  
> twitter @squirrellissa


	32. 5-7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “If this has taught you anything, you should know now to be careful who you trust. I...I can’t say anything else, I’m sorry, but please be careful."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter...oh man, this chapter  
> my motivation for this chapter was so dead and i don't know why?? it's likely i'll come back and make it a little better  
> but for now, it's done, and it's out.

When the doors to the courtroom open, Mao feels like he’s stepped into a place entirely too fancy to conduct a murder trial in. It feels like he’s in some kind of estate, complete with tall, dark green hedges and white fences. In the center of the room, as usual, are the podiums. They’re painted white, like the fences, and the entire room is well-lit. 

As expected, three new portraits stand in the circle-Makoto, Izumi, and Tori. Mao now stands in between Makoto and Subaru’s portraits, with Hokuto past the latter’s. Only 2wink, Switch, and Valkyrie still have all of their members, Mao notes. It’s another of the reminders that their numbers are continuing to drop. When the trial begins, rather quickly, Arashi’s talking at Mao before anyone else can get a word in elsewise.

“Mao-chan, I’ve been meaning to ask, what’s wrong with your hand?”

“My hand?” The chaos of the past few hours have kept Mao from remembering the fact that, right, his hand was bleeding earlier, and he’d wrapped it up. “Oh, yeah, I got scratched. Don’t worry about it.”

“You say that, but how did that happen? I hate to be so pushy, but after seeing Izumi-chan, you’ll have to forgive me.”

“Oh, it was-”

“It was me.” Mao turns to look at Ritsu, surprised to see him with a hand partially raised. “Maakun was being unreasonable, so I had to.” ‘How was I being unreasonable?’ Sits on the tip of Mao’s tongue, but he stays quiet. After earlier, he has no desire to disagree with Ritsu and waste time like that.

“Excuse me, but...how are we going to do this? We have two killers to catch.” The room had fallen completely silent, enough for Hajime’s quiet question to easily be heard. He does bring up a pretty good point. Is it better to look for one killer, then the other, or to try to find both at the same time?

“We’ll only have to find one culprit,” Keito says, completely confidently. “There’s evidence that the killers know each other’s identities. Correct, Fushimi?”

“Hasumi-sama is correct. There is security camera footage of room 2-A where one of us appears to walk in on the murder.” Yuzuru’s reply is immediate, which makes sense-he was the only one who watched the security camera footage. After Keito, Mao and Yuzuru had found it, Keito and Mao had left to investigate elsewhere.

“Hasumi-senpai, did he tell you about that? We didn’t watch the footage.” Keito nods. Mao had meant to track Yuzuru down and ask about the footage, but he had ran out of time, so he’ll just have to trust that what Yuzuru is saying is true.

“We should figure out what’s going on with the names next,” Arashi suggests. “I found one in the hallway, it’s got Ou-sama’s name on it.” She pulls the paper slip out of her pocket-it’s definitely covered in blood.

“Sena-senpai is the only one we know who had that name.” Hokuto has a list with him, Mao notices. He recognizes it as the list they made the other day, when everyone found out who they could escape with. “Did anyone else find any other names?”

“Yea, Tetsu and I found one, near Sena’s body. Had your name on it, Hidaka.” Kuro holds up a slip of paper, just about as bloody than the one Arashi had held up moments ago. Sure enough, it has Hokuto’s name written on it.

“The only person who had my name was Yuuki,” Hokuto explains. “Is it possible that Yuuki and Sena-senpai’s killers are the same person?”

At this point, that’s the most logical conclusion. A name from Makoto by Izumi, and vice-versa, means the killer was probably travelling between the bodies at least once. Because Makoto died first, they seem to have gone from Makoto, to Izumi, then back to Makoto.

“If the killer killed Yuuki first, then why would they go back to his body?” Keito asks, ID card in hand. “According to the files, Sena died after Yuuki did. That means the killer likely needed to go back to his body. However, that would be a large risk on their behalf, so why bother?” A moment of silence passes. There isn’t really a logical reason that a killer would go back to their victim if the victim was dead, unless they left something incriminating on the scene, or needed to hide something-perhaps in plain sight.

“Mika-chan, do you still have that tie?” Mika turns to look at Arashi, clearly confused, before understanding replaces the look on his face. He nods, pulling a long strip of blue fabric out of his pocket. There’s blood staining the top of it.

“We found this on Makoto-chan’s body,” Arashi explains. “But it doesn’t match his wounds. Anyone who saw him knows there should be a pretty big hole in the middle of this tie.”

“Yea, what Naru-chan said. ‘Sides, there’s only blood on tha top of this one.” Mika points to the dark stains, as if they weren’t already obvious enough.

“We can only assume this is the killers, and they may be wearing Makoto’s tie. We went to the handicrafts club room to check out spare uniforms, but none of them had any blood. So, anyone wearing a tie that isn’t blue...is probably safe.” Arashi explains. A wave of relief washes through Mao at the fact that their possible killers could already be narrowed down so much, but there’s also anxiety that comes with the fact that the killer being a second year means it could be someone he’s close to. The sinking feeling from earlier comes back, heavy in his stomach.

“Narukami, you are incorrect.” Mao’s mildly surprised to hear Shu speaking, but he’s curious to hear what his upperclassman has to say. “When we checked the club room earlier, we...missed a uniform. Upon further investigation, I happened to find this.” Shu pulls another tie out of his pocket-one covered in blood, and with a gaping hole in the middle. “It was well hidden, admittedly, in the back of the room.” He explains. “And, yes, there was a clean one missing when I did another check.”

“So you’re saying the killer is a second-year?” Hajime asks, suddenly looking shocked. Shu nods, his eyes scanning the circle. When his eyes meet Mao’s they’re stone-cold, emotionless, but when he seems to notice that Mao isn’t guilty, he continues looking.

“I found something a little similar, actually,” the first-year continues when no one else speaks. He holds up a small piece of blue fabric, with a bloodstain on the very end. “It looks like it was ripped off. There was something pink with it too...it almost looked like Tori-kun’s hair. They were both in the cafeteria.”

“Which second years were in the cafeteria?” Keito asks, almost immediately. “Just raise your hands, don’t make this difficult.” A quick survey of the circle reveals that Mao, Hokuto, Natsume, Ritsu, Koga, Mika, and Yuzuru had all been. Mao makes a mental note of this, knowing that he himself isn’t one of the two guilty parties.

He’s still thinking when a strange thing comes to mind. He remembers, the other day, Tori saying something about Yuzuru scaring him, threatening to kill people. It’s a small, probably irrelevant detail that he decides to just keep in the back of his mind for now, but he doesn’t completely disregard it.

“Did we ever figure out what they grey stuff in Sena’s hand was?” Kuro asks. “It looked like fabric, kinda, but I couldn’t tell.” Mao’s eyes immediately scan the circle again, trying to look at the details of everyone’s clothing as quickly as he can, when he sees something that makes his heart jump, something that makes Yuzuru look guilty again-a grey sweater. Of course. It goes past the end of his jacket sleeves, so the end could easily be torn off if he were to be in a fight with someone...like Izumi.

“Fushimi, aren’t your sleeves grey? It would be nice if you could turn your arms over so we could see them.” He doesn’t move for a moment, instead looking at Mao, before silently turning his arms over. Sure enough, a small piece of his sleeve on the right arm is gone. Mao bites the inside of his cheek-he didn’t actually expect that to work.

“F-fushimi-senpai?” Hajime questions. “Isara-senpai, do you remember what Tori-kun said, the other day?” Mao nods, glad Hajime is on the same path of reasoning as he is.

“He said that he heard Fushimi was threatening to kill someone.” The room falls silent, and Mao can feel the eyes staring him down. He knows why-he’s made a pretty far-out claim, after all, but if he can get someone else to support him, he might be able to make a point. He really hopes he’s right-the murders didn’t leave them with a lot of evidence, but he doesn’t want to overthink what little they have.

“Isara is correct!” Chiaki’s loud voice breaks the silence, and Mao can’t tell if he’s grateful or irritated by the backup. “I have heard the same thing myself, after all.” Chiaki looks rather proud of himself, Mao notes.

“Morisawa-senpai’s right,” Midori says, nodding. Mao raises an eyebrow-if Midori is supporting Chiaki then the third-year must really be right.

“Fushimi, do you have anything to say? I have to wonder now, did you lie to me about that security footage? You were rather hesitant to give the computer up.” Mao can only see part of the glare that Keito gives, but he knows he’d sure as hell flinch away from it if it was directed at him. Yuzuru stands his ground, however, face expressionless, before something akin to a small smile settles on his features instead, and he raises his hands.

“You have caught me. Would you like me to reveal the other killer?”

“Don’t bother,” Hokuto interjects, before Yuzuru can go any further. “It was me.”

 

The two take to quickly explaining the events of the night. Shortly after the explosion, Yuzuru had found Makoto, led him to the 2-A classroom, and killed him. His motives? Obviously, to protect Tori and let him escape. However, he apparently also knew that Izumi had been given Makoto’s name, and was worried about what Izumi would to do others, not just Tori or himself, with that opportunity.

After, he’d seen Izumi wandering around outside. He’d been looking for Makoto, as well, although this was before Mao or Hokuto even thought to start looking for Makoto. Around the time the two had begun their search, Yuzuru had pulled Izumi downstairs, suspicious, Izumi had been ready to fight back, but Yuzuru was armed-and their fight resulted in Izumi’s death as well.

Then, he’d gone to the handicrafts club room and changed his uniform. Yuzuru, explained that he had changed his uniform and realized he had somehow managed to lose his tie in the classroom when he killed Makoto. As the deceased boy’s was much less bloody than his own, which had been on the floor, he tried to swap the two. However, as Hokuto told the group, he and Mao had split up-leading to him encountering Yuzuru in the middle of this, caught on security camera footage as well. So, the killers really had known each other’s identities.

The two had gotten into a fight, and after Yuzuru had gone back to the handicrafts club room to figure out if he looked bloody or dirty, and swap Makoto’s tie for one of the uniform replacement ones in the room.

After Hokuto and Mao came back to the room-Hokuto was intending to wait until the morning to act, so that they wouldn’t have to investigate while exhausted. However, when Tori and Hajime left the room, he left as well, saying he had something he wanted to check on. Mao had been slightly suspicious but otherwise fine, telling his unitmate to be careful outside. 

Hokuto explained that he knew he overreacted to Makoto’s death. But he was exhausted, and furious at seeing a friend’s life wasted and thrown away so easily that he wanted to get revenge-which he did by killing Tori. He did that, so that even if Yuzuru had escaped, his overall plan would have failed. After this, Hokuto realized that if he hadn’t murdered someone, he would have been able to pin the blame on Yuzuru alone, and escape. But, because there were three victims, there had to be two killers-meaning outing one with little to no proof would be dangerous for himself.

After explaining the story, Hokuto had apologized to Hajime for what he’d done. The first-year didn’t seem to accept it-only nodding his head in shocked silence, looking terrified. Then, Hokuto turns to Mao.

“Isara.”

Mao doesn’t respond.

“Isara.” Hokuto steps off from his place in the circle, walking towards Mao and grabbing his hand. Mao tries to flinch away his arm jerking back with a small, “Don’t touch me.” However, he relaxes his arm when he feels Hokuto forcing a small, crumpled up paper into his closed fist.

“If this has taught you anything, you should know now to be careful who you trust. I...I can’t say anything else, I’m sorry, but please be careful. For Trickstar.”

Executions and voting go quickly and quietly once more. Mao can’t bring himself to watch longer than a few seconds of each execution at a time, unable to watch a classmate and a unitmate being killed. He registers that Yuzuru’s has something to do with butlers, and Hokuto’s acting, but other than that it’s all a blur.

 

Back in his own room, which seems far too cold and empty after spending so much time with companions during the past few days, he can’t sleep at all. The laptop’s charging light blinks in the darkness, and he focuses on it, tempted to get up and look around. He didn’t know how it had gotten from underground to his room-maybe Hokuto had done that during the investigation.

He’s mad. But it’s not normal anger, it’s betrayal, it’s frustration, and it’s fear. He can’t get over what Hokuto said to him about trust-how could he believe someone who just committed a thoughtless murder? The thought sends a shiver down his spine. But Hokuto’s words sit in the back of his mind, unmoving and unwilling to move. Because he knows that Hokuto might not be wrong.

He hasn’t touched the paper either. That’s for the morning, when he’s debatably more awake. Maybe he’ll just be like Ritsu and sleep the day away tomorrow. It doesn’t sound like a bad plan-because as selfless as he is, as much as he knows that Hajime will probably need comfort in the morning, he doesn’t want to face that he’s the only member of Trickstar that’s still alive. He’s a people-pleaser, sure, but maybe he just needs a little time to himself. Alone.

Or so he thinks, until his doorbell rings.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'm never writing another two killer case again  
> if you need an explanation please lemme know as i feel like this was a bit confusing..  
> as always, thanks for reading!  
> twitter @squirrellissa


	33. 6-1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “It was me,” he repeats, sounding a little more hysterical. “It’s my fault that they’re dead. I saw it, Ritchan, I really did."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello again  
> look at that it took me less than a year to write a chapter!  
> i tried to explain the executions a little bit more here, so i hope that'll help.

He really just wanted some damn peace and quiet. The whole day after the trial had dragged on for what felt like an eternity, and he’d barely been able to sleep. Mao was sure he was just about to relax enough for that when his doorbell rang. With heavy legs, Mao stumbles his way over to his door and unlocks it, not bothering to look and see who it is. If someone was coming to kill him, they probably wouldn't ring his doorbell anyways-they'd just barge right in. With the faulty ID cards, that was more than possible.

Ritsu stands outside his door-a surprise and not a surprise at the same time. Everyone was tired, and even though it was night, Mao expected Ritsu to be sleeping. But at the same time, the way he stands tells Mao that this is the rare, motivated Ritsu. He ushers the pale boy into his room, closing the door behind him and listening as it locks with a soft click. 

“I’m really sorry.” Ritsu sounds strained and upset, his eyes burning red but unable to meet Mao’s. When Mao doesn't respond, Ritsu takes a step forward, picking up the hand he’d scratched earlier with his own, ice-cold hands. Mao took the bandage off a few hours ago, but the marks are still very much there and very much hurting, and he instinctively flinches away from the touch. Ritsu raises the hand to his lips, pressing a cold, gentle kiss to the damaged skin before pulling Mao towards him. 

Mao blinks back his tears once, twice, and a half of a third time, until Ritsu pulls him closer and whatever emotional dam was slowly cracking inside him shatters. He hasn't cried like this since he was a kid, he knows-it hurts his throat, his eyes, and he can't even feel shame about it. Ritsu holds him even tighter, running a hand through unpinned hair and humming a soft melody that Mao hasn't heard before. 

Mao’s suddenly aware that his feet are no longer on the ground. Before he can react to it, he realizes that Ritsu’s holding him, carrying him towards his bed. Ritsu sets him down gently before sitting down next to Mao, quickly wrapping his arms back around the younger. He can’t blame Mao for being so traumatized-watching Yuzuru be killed by flying cutlery was bad enough. But Hokuto’s death was even more brutal, slowly being pulled limb from limb by a theater of ‘fans’ gone mad.

“I’ll be right back, okay?” Ritsu stands up-or tries to. He feels a little bit of guilt when Mao continues to cling to him, but the other quickly lets go, nodding and rubbing under his eyes. Ritsu walks into the attached bathroom, finding a hand towel and running it under cold water in the sink. He can hear Mao’s breathing, loud and unsteady, from in there. There’s an empty plastic cup on the edge of the sink, and Ritsu quickly fills that with water too before walking back out and to Mao. He hands Mao the cup, carefully. Mao’s hands shake a lot, very clearly, the movement of the water as he trembles fascinating Ritsu for a moment.

“Maakun, close your eyes.” Mao does as he’s asked, and Ritsu takes the cold towel-first pressing it over Mao’s left eye, gently holding it over the red skin. His free hand drifts further up Mao’s face, brushing a loose piece of hair out of the way. His hand touches Mao’s forehead as he does, and his skin feels almost dirty to the touch-Ritsu knows Mao hasn’t been taking care of himself since the trial ended. He doesn’t recall seeing Mao anywhere on the rare occasion he left his room, anyways.

The towel under his hand is getting a little warm, so Ritsu drops the end of the towel he’s holding and holds a different part to Mao’s other eye. He holds it there until that part feels warm, too, and pulls the towel back. Mao’s eyes look better-still shiny but less swollen and red, and a tiny bit less bloodshot. Still not perfect, but better.

Ritsu shakes the towel out a little, feeling cold drops of water land on his leg, before gently rubbing it over Mao’s forehead, following it with a quick kiss against his damp skin. He does the same thing to each of Mao’s cheeks, his chin, and his nose before throwing the towel somewhere in the room, to be picked up at a later time. He wraps his arms back around Mao and stays there, looking up to see Mao trying to force a small and shaky smile. He’s stopped crying, at least.

“Thanks, Ritchan.” Mao sounds tired, really tired, so Ritsu pulls him down by falling onto his side and taking Mao with him. He kicks at the blankets on Mao’s bed until he can tell that they’re not going to come loose anytime. He sits up, regretfully, pulling them out from under Mao and throwing them back over the two of them. To Ritsu’s surprise, Mao moves closer to him before Ritsu can actually move, curling up against Ritsu and reaching for one of his hands. His breath is warm and slow on Ritsu’s chest, barely able to be felt.

RItsu reaches behind him for the light next to Mao’s bed, trying to not burn his fingers on the lightbulb and instead turn the light off. When the room goes dark again, he can feel Mao jump, his grip on Ritsu’s hand tightening for a moment. He adjusts himself a little, so Mao’s knees aren’t digging into him quite as much, before deciding that he’s more than comfortable.

“Goodnight, Maakun. Sweet dreams~” he mutters, pressing another gentle kiss to the top of Mao’s head. Judging by how he gets no response, Mao must already be asleep.

 

True to his usual self, Ritsu can’t sleep very well during the night. He leaves a couple times, quietly, just to get something to eat and stretch a little bit. Each time, he’s very careful not to wake Mao-his sleep is light at best, based on how he's been mumbling and moving. 

Fortunately, Ritsu is back when Mao suddenly sits straight up, clearly awake. His hand clenches the front of his shirt and his eyes are wide open, like he's seen a ghost. The distinct smell of blood hits Ritsu’s nose and he reaches for the light, turning it on and then turning to Mao. Sure enough, there's a steady stream of it coming from his nose. 

“Shit, shit, I’m bleeding-” Mao groans, one hand going under his nose and the other pinching the top as he tips his head back. Ritsu scrambles off the bed, looking for the towel from earlier-good, it's still just damp enough to be cool-and hurries back with it. He runs the towel over the areas he can see blood before telling Mao to hold it to the bridge of his nose. 

Instead of complying, Mao suddenly falls forward onto Ritsu’s shoulder. Ritsu jumps, panicking and trying to replace Mao’s hands to stop the bleeding. One of Mao’s hands, bloody, reaches for his head, pressing and holding against it like it might explode. He mumbles something, muffled by Ritsu’s shoulder, but it sounds pained nonetheless. 

The nosebleed stops as quickly as it had started, but Mao still isn’t moving. Ritsu pulls his head up carefully- Mao’s eyes are closed, teeth pressed together, clearly in pain. A headache, probably, he decides, and shuts the light back off again.

“It was me.” Both of Mao’s hands hold Ritsu’s shoulders, and thanks to his good eyesight in the dark, Ritsu can see that Mao’s eyes are now wide open. He looks more shocked, borderline traumatized then scared.

“It was me,” he repeats, sounding a little more hysterical. “It’s my fault that they’re dead. I saw it, Ritchan, I really did.

“There was someone...I don’t know who...but I was working with them, and I helped them set everything up. I don’t know who, I just called them leader, but they’re behind this, I helped them set this-” Ritsu silences Mao with a hand pressed to his face.

“Shh, Maakun. It was a bad dream, okay?” He moves his hand away when he knows Mao isn’t going to speak anymore, instead tucking a small bit of Mao’s messy hair behind his ear. “It wasn’t you.” He doesn’t know exactly what Mao saw, but he can imagine how seeing Hokuto die, having the knowledge that his friend killed someone and being the only member of his unit left, could give him some pretty weird dreams.

“A bad dream?” He almost sounds offended.

“Maakun just had a bad dream. You’re tired. Sleep, sleep~”

Mao sighs, nodding and lying back down. Ritsu looks down on him for a moment before he lies down, too He notices a drop of blood on the pillow next to him, trying to make a mental note to tell Mao about it in the morning-if he’s awake, that is.

 

“We need to be careful.” Three figures stand in a dark bedroom, huddled around a small security camera feed. 

“They are going to find things out, that much is inevitable.” The second figure speaks. Their voice is the quietest, the weakest of the three.

“Do you think they’ll catch us?”

“No way. We’ve thought this out way too much.” The third person speaks, turning off the security feed. Their confidence is nearly tangible, after all, this is their own plan. They have to be confident, or else all will fall apart. They’ve already come close a couple of times-namely, the introduction of Switch, who had the power to do things to their rule that no one else did.

“Besides, if they do catch us,” they continue. “It will be your fault. What were you thinking, wandering around like that?! Now we have no choice but to target them.”

“Well they’re not going to tell anyone!” The second figure yells back. They know what they’ve done wrong-wandering around during the day was something they were forbidden from doing. Yet, they hadn’t expected anyone to catch them. Nonetheless, they're now forbidden from leaving their room unless the situation absolutely calls for it.

“Stop being so loud...” the first figure complains. “We just need to be careful now. We can recover...probably.” The third person turns to them, a surprised look on their face.

“What do you have in mind?”

 

“Narukami, do you swear you are telling the truth?” Shu and Arashi have met in the cafeteria after breakfast, on the premise that Arashi had something ‘important to talk about’.

“I’m positive, Shu-chan. But I can’t tell Mika-chan.” Arashi’s voice falters for a moment before she continues. “They visited me earlier...if I told him, they said they’d kill either me or us both.” It’s the morning, about a full twenty four hours after the trial. The whole group’s mood is somber-no one was really expecting two killers-the last trial claimed five people in total. Arashi had been visited the previous night by a hooded figure-one she already knew the identity of.

“Then why are you telling me?” Shu pales a little, Arashi following his logic pretty quickly. If Arashi talking about what she saw would lead to someone getting killed, then why was she talking about it?

“Don’t worry, you’re safe. They specified Mika-chan, although I’m not really sure why. It’s a loophole, see? I’m just worried, he’s been so anxious lately...I’d hate to sound selfish, but I don’t want to think about what could happen if I’m not around...Shu-chan, I need you to help me protect him.”

“Are you asking me to kill someone?”

“No no no, I just need your help keeping an eye on him. You know him so well, after all. Just...if something happens to me, take care of him. Okay?”

“If this is for Kagehira, then…” Shu takes a deep breath, letting it out as a sigh and momentarily closing his eyes. “I will help you.”

“Thank you, Shu-chan.” Arashi slumps back a little bit, posture relaxing. “While we’re here, can I ask one more think of you? I feel like it might make this situation make a little more sense to you.” She pauses, unsure if she’s already asked too much of Shu today. “I’d like you to come to the biology lab with me.”

Reluctantly, under the idea that this is all being done to keep Mika safe, Shu agrees. Their walk to the lab is silent-Arashi knows Shu isn’t very fond of his type, after all. It takes about five minutes, and Arashi finds that she has to pick the lock again to enter the lab. The door is just as easy to pick this time, which is a relief-no one has found a way from stopping entry to the room yet.

The same rush of cold air meets them as soon as she opens the door. Shu looks at her, not responding, until she enters the room first. He follows in, surprised to see that the room is more metal than classroom. Arashi looks at him, nodding and then looking back around the room.

“It’s a morgue,” she says, pointing to a row of doors in the back. There are thirty six of them, each one with a blue and red light on the right of it. For some of them, the blue light is on. The rest, red. However, the placement of the lights is strange. The blue lights are only on the left side of the room-however, one random light in the middle of the blue lights is red.

“Someone is still alive.” Shu says bluntly, looking at the red light.

“That’s what I was saying. Even the numbers don’t match up-there should be 14 blue lights on, but there are only 13…” Arashi points out. Shu nods, taking a few steps forward until he gets to the doors. He doesn’t want to open them-if Arashi said that this room was a morgue, there was no need to see what was behind the door.

There’s a sudden thump from behind him, followed by Arashi crying out. Shu turns around, so fast he nearly falls over. A figure, completely cloaked in black fabric, is pinning the blonde to the wall by the shoulder. Shu can only see their hands, but the skin is scarred and crossed with red marks. Arashi’s eyes are wide, staring down at the person-they’re shorter than him.

Arashi changes her glance from the person’s forehead to their eyes, meeting them. The other’s eyes are filled with anger and malice.

“If you reveal my identity, then it will be the end," they threaten, and throw scarred thumb back in Shu's direction. "The same goes for him.”

Arashi nods-she hadn’t been intending to tell anyone in the first place, not after threatening her life and potentially even Mika’s. The figure spins around, careful to keep their face aimed at the ground as to not show Shu their identity. Arashi knowing who they are is enough-they hadn’t realized Shu would be entering the biology lab with Arashi, so hopefully he hadn’t seen who they are. They exit the room through a door in the back of the room that locks behind them, leaving Arashi and Shu in shocked silence.

“Narukami, are you alright?” She’s shaking, Shu can tell. She crosses her arms over her body protectively, shaking her head no and closing her eyes. Unsure of what to do, Shu watches her for a moment before pulling on her arm, trying to pull her away from the wall and towards the door. The room is suddenly a little too cold and a little too quiet.

“Come on, come on, we should leave,” he orders her. Arashi nods a little bit, stumbling a little bit as she makes her way to the door. Shu can tell from the look on her face that she’s very anxious, her eyes looking a little red-rimmed and an indent on her cheek where she’s likely biting the inside of her mouth. She’s pale too, arms still crossed across her chest.

“I still can’t believe it…” she says as soon as the two are out of the room, door locking behind them. “I’m sorry, I can’t tell you who it is, but...they should be dead, by all means.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> its going down, arashi's yelling timber  
> yikes  
> neechan better be careful, huh?  
> as always, thanks for reading!  
> twitter @squirrellissa


	34. 6-2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “You have to be careful. What would I do without my Maa-kun? Don’t make me need to protect you."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HEY IM NOT DEAD not physically dead at least  
> i have...no explanation for why this took so long...sorry about that. tried to make it at least a bit longer  
> also i'm realizing now that i didn't use kuro and shu's nicknames for each other? i don't really feel like fixing it though, so...

“Naru-chan, yer still actin’ all weird…”

Arashi just returned from the biology lab. Shu went his own way, splitting from the blonde, and Arashi found herself heading to Mika’s room. Obviously, she can’t tell Mika what happened, for the safety of both of them, but she does want a little consolation nonetheless.

She doesn’t want Mika to know that she’s suddenly terrified for the future. Because if she’s scared, then poor, skittish, anxious Mika...Arashi can’t even think of the right word for what Mika could be feeling. She really is in it for Mika-not just because she wants to see Mika alive and happy. She does, of course, want that, but there’s also an underlying fear she has that losing Mika, once again losing someone she trusts so much, could just be the final nail in her own coffin as well.

“Don’t worry, Mika-chan, I’m just a little tired. I’ll sleep well tonight, and be all better tomorrow, okay?” Arashi really hopes Mika can’t tell how blatantly obvious that lie is. Mika’s eyes narrow a little, clearly suspicious, but he doesn’t ask any more questions. The room falls silent for a moment until a strange rumbling noise comes from Mika. Arashi looks at him, a little concerned, but breaks into laughter when she sees Mika has his hands on his stomach, face flushed with embarrassment.

“Hungry?” She asks, smiling. Mika nods. A quick glance at the clock tells them it’s late afternoon-about 3, to be exact. Neither of them have eaten since breakfast, which probably explains why Arashi feels a little bit light-headed herself. She finds herself pulling Mika towards the door-a little snack sounds like a good distraction, and so does time with Mika.

Once Arashi and Mika get there, they’re the only two in the cafeteria. The quiet is certainly welcome between the two of them, who don’t speak much themselves. Mika, because he’s too busy eating every sweet thing he can find in the area, and Arashi because watching Mika is just too amusing to interrupt. He finally decides to take break from eating, and looks up at Arashi with a slightly apologetic smile.

“Naruchan, ya still can't say what’s up, right?” Arashi jumps a little, surprised by the honesty and boldness of Mika’s question. Yet, she still has to refuse answering him. 

“I’m sorry Mika-chan...but I really can't tell you. Trust me, the consequences we could face…” the blonde trials off, partly because she doesn't want to mention death, partly for dramatic effect. Despite her calm exterior, Arashi’s heart pounds in her chest until Mika nods, seeming to accept her statement. 

“I trust ya, Naru-chan. ‘Sides, if it’s such a big deal, I’ll find out soon enough, right?”

“Right.” Arashi nods reluctantly, ignoring the anxious lump that forms in her throat. 

 

Contrasting his junior’s method of handling the situation, Shu Itsuki is anything but calm. Fortunately, or maybe unfortunately, Kuro is there-although considering Shu won't detail the situation, he doesn't exactly know what to say. After about fifteen minutes of trying to work out of Shu just why he’s so ‘unforgivably idiotic’, as Shu keeps putting it, Kuro gives up on getting the whole truth-instead opting to ask small questions in hopes that maybe he can at least pry a few details.

“Itsuki, calm down. Can’t help ya if ya don’t say what’s goin’ on.”

Shu, who’s been pacing back and forth for the past ten minutes or so, finally stop. He closes his eyes, sighing and digging his nails into his palms before any kind of logical train of thought returns to him. He won’t say it out loud, because he doesn’t like admitting he’s wrong-but he is, and Kuro is most definitely right. The two of them are outside, where Shu had found Kuro, and he suddenly wishes that a wind would blow or something to distract him from how his mind is yelling about seventy different ideas at once.

“It has to do with Kagehira. I worry that his blonde friend-whatever their name is-will end up getting him killed.” That’s a good place to start, he decides, nothing that will make him sound too suspicious or threaten Mika.

“Narukami? I thought ya said they were close?” Kuro questions, eyebrow raising a little in surprise.

“I have reason to believe that someone is threatening Narukami. Anything seems to go here, it is a possibility that they could sacrifice Kagehira for themselves. I know he would probably agree, at the very least.” The words sound kind of dumb coming out of his mouth, much dumber than they sounded in his head. “Narukami and I encountered something dangerous, I believe. Someone dangerous.”

Arashi hadn’t revealed the whole situation to Shu, which he was grateful for-he didn’t want to know, in all honesty. But, he had been told that someone was alive who should have been dead, Arashi was the only person to know their identity, and after telling Shu in an attempt to keep Mika safe, the person had come for Arashi again, this time threatening to kill...well, an unknown amount of people should they talk again. And so, their agreement to watch over Mika was only fortified-it’s clear that the odds of survival are shrinking more and more.

“So, there’s a mole or somethin’?” Kuro asks when Shu finished explaining the situation, in as much detail as he feels safe doing. Shu nods; he hadn’t thought of it that way before but it sure is a better way to put it than the words his brain was trying to scramble together.

“Only you and Narukami can’t talk about it, right?” He asks. Shu nods again, unsure of where Kuro is going with his questions.

‘No clues to who it is?”

“I really do not see the point of this interrogation, these questions are going-”

“I can just tell everyone else, y’know.” Kuro sighs, knowing that he has to get his point out before Shu goes off. Shu blinks at him, stone-face.

“That is absolutely irrational. We do not need more death in this godforsaken place, Kiryu.”

“It’s only Narukami and ya who can’t speak. Tomorrow at breakfast, okay?” Kuro pauses, suddenly seeing Mika and Arashi leaving the cafeteria out of the corner of his eye. “Turn around. Think there’s someone out there worryin’ about ya.” Kuro pushes Shu’s shoulder lightly, directing him until Shu finds Mika. He can feel the way Shu’s shoulder tenses under his hand, but Shu nods nonetheless.

“Alright, alright, I guess Narukami and I will handle this. I trust your word, Kiryu, if you get me or Kagehira killed I will personally return the favor.” Before Shu can even explain how a dead man will commit murder, he’s gone, off in Arashi and Mika’s direction.

 

Ritsu still hasn’t left Mao’s side. Mao is grateful for the company-the absence of Makoto and Hokuto make things a lot quieter for him. However, part of him does want to be left alone, at least for a little bit. Hokuto’s last words haunt him-Hokuto isn’t a liar, he never was, but his words were just too cryptic to make sense. At this point, it comes with common sense that trust isn’t something to be given out easily. At least Mao hasn’t been given reason to be distrustful of Ritsu, yet.

Yet, he knows he’s a bit paranoid. Maybe it’s being almost constantly observed by Ritsu, unusually awake and active during the day. The surveillance is doing a number on his mental health- even on the rare occasions where Ritsu isn’t watching him, Mao can still feel red eyes tracking him. And not in a very friendly way, either. 

So, naturally, he’s glad when Rei and Kaoru, of all people, show up at his door. He’s had interactions with other people since the trial, of course, but everyone has been so damn depressed that it feels like a chore of sorts to talk to anyone.

Ritsu is sleeping when the two arrive, with Mao sitting next to him and scanning the laptop once more. After the trial, he had taken it from Makoto’s room to his own, finding it miraculously untouched.. That strangest part was that it was logged back into his account. He knew Yuzuru had been logged into the ‘Project Revolution’ software during the investigation (the username and password for which Hokuto had slipped Mao just before his death on the small, crumpled piece of paper he’d given Mao). Whoever moved the laptop-likely whoever was responsible for his mess-had logged him back in.

Although, it didn’t surprise Mao that the person orchestrating the events of the past few weeks would know his login. If they were the mystical ‘leader’ he had seen mentioned more than a few times in the emails, it would make sense that they knew everything-especially if everyone was working under them. The emails Mao had been finding with small bits of new information had lead him to that conclusion, although finding things was getting harder and harder as more emails were needed. Sure, he’d found passwords-but they seemed to be codes of some kind, and he had no idea on how to decode them.

Setting down the laptop, glad to give his eyes a break, Mao quietly opens the door. The room is pretty dark, lights off and shades drawn due to Ritsu sleeping, but Mao can see well enough to know that Rei and Kaoru are at his door.

“Isara-kun.” Rei’s voice is serious. Mao is a bit taken aback-Ritsu was one thing, but both Sakuma brothers suddenly being so awake and alert and serious in the day would come as a shock to just about anyone who knew them. Mao opens the door a little wider, a silent gesture to invite his two upperclassmen into his room, before quietly closing the door behind him.

“Ritchan’s sleeping, so be quiet. Why are you here?” Mao doesn’t like how his voice sounds, too confrontational for the situation, but he makes no effort to change it. It’s probably just in his head.

“Am I not allowed to check on my precious Ritsu and his friend?” Rei responds, taking a few steps closer to Mao’s bed, where Ritsu still sleeps. Mao groans, knowing the scene that Ritsu will probably cause if Rei wakes him up. Luckily, Kaoru is there to prevent that, stopping Rei with a swift jerk of his arm and slapping the back of his head. Rei spins, looking up at Kaoru with fake hurt on his face, and Mao turns on one of the lamps in his room.

“We were curious about what’s on that laptop. Shino kinda told us about it, but he was a bit to freaked out to do it well.” Kaoru explains. Mao feels his pulse jump a bit-there’s a bit of anxiety that fills him at the thought of someone else seeing the laptop. What if it’s that damned leader, coming to find out what he knows and leave him dead? It’s plausible that there could be more than one of them...then again, Rei and Kaoru wouldn’t do anything to him, unless Ritsu was in on their plan too-

No, he’s definitely paranoid now. There’s no way Ritsu could be in a plan like that, especially not one with his brother. That would be completely ridiculous. Pushing the momentary panic out of his mind Mao nods, reaching for the laptop that he left on his bed. He hits the space key a couple times to wake the laptop up from its sleep mode before taking the few steps to the desk in the back of his room and setting the laptop down quietly.

Explaining the ‘Project Revolution’ program to Rei and Kaoru doesn’t take a very long time, luckily. Mao runs through the basic functions-the emails, the locked emails, the video footage he’d found with Hokuto and Makoto, and the security cameras that were on Yuzuru’s account, yet nowhere to be found on his. To finish, he pulls a list of passwords he’s found so far out of his pocket, smoothing the slightly crumpled paper out on the desk and placing it on top of the laptop’s keyboard so that the other two can see.

The only interesting things he’s managed to find on his own was more talk of traitors-seemingly three, and mass emails that reached several addresses, meaning that there were several people involved. Combined with that ominous newspaper headline Mademoiselle had shown so long ago, before the first murder even happened, mao can’t shake the feeling that everyone being involved in some murderous scheme was no lie made to promote murder- it was the truth.

“I haven’t managed to figure them out yet,” Mao explains. “They seem to be some kind of code, I guess? But entering them straight up into locked emails doesn’t work. The paper features three codes. The first is the code he found with Hokuto and Makoto, which reads ‘18I9B20B19S21’. The second one reads ‘8A15B11A21G2015’, and the third reads ‘25D21C210119’.

“Have you tried putting them in backwards?” Kaoru suggests. Mao shakes his head no-he actually hadn’t thought of that, he’d been too busy trying to decipher the code of the lines. However, his suggestion proves useless-as Mao is met with three consecutive error messages.

“You should ask Keito-kun about those tomorrow,” Rei adds, when the codes fail. “He might know a thing or two about decoding.”

Apparently satisfied with the summary Mao gave, the two third-years are soon on their way. Mao closes the door with a small, tired sigh-it got late while they were in his room, and it’s now dark enough for Mao to open the curtains and let the moonlight in without risking waking Ritsu up. He shuts off the lamp he’d turned on, using the glow of the laptop screen still on his desk to navigate to the window and throw the curtains open before closing the laptop and returning to his own bed.

“Maa-kun’s a traitor. I can’t believe he let that gross bug and his friend in while I was sleeping.” Mao’s heart nearly jumps out of his chest at the sound of Ritsu’s sleepy but very clearly awake voice. He was under the impression Ritsu was asleep-maybe turning the lamp on was a bit too much for him.

“S-sorry, Ritchan. They just wanted to know what was going on with that laptop,” he explains, lying down and prying a blanket out of Ritu’s reluctant grip to throw it over himself as well. Ritsu groans out a complaint but says nothing else, moving closer to Mao to stay further under the blanket.

“You were defenseless. What if they hurt you?” Ritsu’s voice is stone cold again, completely serious. It’s the same fear Mao had had before but brushed off as completely irrational-was Ritsu reading his mind? Before he could say anything in response, however, Ritsu yawned and threw an arm over Mao, curling his legs up to his body. “You have to be careful. What would I do without my Maa-kun? Don’t make me need to protect you.

“Gnight, Maa-kun. You should be proud of me, I’m on your sleep schedule now.”

As per usual, Ritsu is asleep in another three seconds, leaving a slightly confused Mao behind in the dark.

 

When Mao wakes up in the morning, he’s surprised to find that Ritsu is also awake. He’s sitting up too, stretching his arms up over his head with a yawn.

“You’re awake,” Mao comments. It’s not a question, it’s a statement-to which Ritsu nods.

“Yep. I said I was on your schedule, after all.” Mao looks behind him to check the clock-it’s only 7 in the morning, meaning they have time until breakfast. That’s even more surprising-Ritsu willingly waking up at a time that’s convenient for Mao’s preference of being early for things.

“Ritchan, are you alright? I’m not used to you being this responsive in the morning.” Mao stands up, surprised when Ritsu follows suit. They both fell asleep in their uniforms which, admittedly, is a little gross, but mao wasn’t even thinking about that when he went to bed the previous night.

“It’s because I need to watch over you.” Ritsu says, the dead-serious voice from last night returning out of nowhere. “Maa-kun, I already lost Secchan and Suu-chan and Ecchan. I won’t lose you too.” Ritsu is suddenly in front of Mao, hands on his shoulders, staring into his eyes so intensely that it takes all of Mao’s willpower not to flinch away. This isn’t Ritsu at all, this isn’t a side of Ritsu he recognizes very well. It’s comforting to know that Ritsu is looking after him, but, there’s certainly something a little bit unsettling about the way Ritsu seems dead-set on making sure no harm comes Mao’s way.

 

They arrive to breakfast early, and Mao can practically feel the surprise in the room when the ever-lethargic Ritsu Sakuma follows him into the cafeteria at 7:50 in the morning. Ritsu pulls him to a table where Arashi, Mika and Leo are already sitting-three early risers, Mao assumes. Mika and Arashi are talking, and Leo is writing something-in a notebook, for once.

“Good morning~” Ritsu announces, sitting down at the table’s last chair, leaving Mao standing behind him. Sighing, Mao grabs a char from an empty table and drags it over, finding room between Arashi and Ritsu.

“Ritsu-chan, it’s nice to see you up so early? Did you sleep well last night?” Arashi asks. Ritsu nods, leaning onto the table and bracing his head up on his hand.

“I always sleep well when I’m with Maa-kun,” Ritsu replies, matter-of-fact. Arashi looks between the two of them with a knowing glance and giggles, to which Mao rolls his eyes a little and shoots Ritsu a sharp glance.

“You slept well, but I didn’t. I thought you were gonna give me a black eye last night,” Mao insists. Arashi laughs harder at that, Mika’s laugh joining hers. Fortunately, Mao is saved form any more embarrassing remarks by the sound of what he assumes is a spoon hitting a glass from somewhere behind him.

He looks over his shoulder to see that it’s Shu, of all people, hitting a spoon against the side of a small, glass cup. He stops when the room falls silent, turning a glance to look at Kuro, who’s sitting next to him.

“Right, uh, I just had somethin’ I wanted to share.” He starts. Shu nods when Kuro looks down at him, mouthing the words ‘is this safe?’ before continuing. “It looks like there’s a mole or somethin’. One of us isn’t really dead.”

The sound of a chair clattering to the ground behind him startles Mao, and he turns to see Arashi standing, eyes suddenly blazing with what has to be anger. She curls and uncurls her hands, straightening her posture and lacing her fingers in front of her body.

“Shu-chan, did you really. You realize what happens now, don’t you?” Her voice is shaking, and Mao can see from where he sits, shocked, that the smile on her face is entirely forced. What happened to make normally cheery Arashi look like she’s ready to punch Shu’s face into nothing? He doesn’t really want to know. Of more importance is what Kuro said-one of them isn’t really dead.

“Kuro-chan, Shu-chan, I am afraid you have made quite the mistake.”

The only noise in the cafeteria is that of Mademoiselle’s voice, suddenly spine-chillingly cold.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *mademoiselle* shu-chan you fucked up  
> thank you for waiting and for reading!   
> come yell at me on twitter @squirrellissa


	35. 6-3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mao runs his hand down the back of the other's head, and nearly falls backwards when it comes away smeared with red.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi hi  
> i'm gonna apologize for what's about to happen right now  
> this is probably one of my favorite chapters so far lmao, the last scene was done months ago and i've been disturbingly hyped to write the chapter bc of it  
> have fun!

“Naru-chan, wha’s goin’ on?!” Mika stands up too, although he manages to not knock over his chair. He reaches for Arashi’s shoulder, fear clearly visible in his eyes. No, it’s not just fear- it’s absolute terror. He can feel his eyes widening, heart beating furiously against his ribcage like it might come bursting out at any given moment. Arashi doesn’t respond to him, but he can feel the way Arashi shakes under his hand (or is that just his own hand shaking?). He should have been more suspicious of the fact that there was something Arashi was clearly so blatantly against Mika knowing-but he can’t bring himself to not trust Arashi.

Even now, when Arashi turns to him, eyes wide and pleading in a look that he’s never seen before, he can’t be angry. Arashi has his best interests in mind, right?

“Mademoiselle, please…” Arashi turns back to face the doll, face grim. The doll takes a few quiet steps towards Arashi, who doesn’t move. The tension in the air is palpable, like a weight pushing down on Mika’s shoulders, so strong he really thinks he needs to sit down. He shoots a glance across the room to Shu and Kuro, both of whom look just about as panicked as he feels.

Arashi suddenly goes stiff, standing completely straight before falling back, directly into Mika-who manages to catch her in a quick moment of adrenaline-fueled reflexes. He glances down in time to see the doll sliding a medical needle under the layers of her skirts before she turns to face Kuro and Shu.

Mika can’t focus on them now, not when Arashi is motionless, eyes closed and body stiff in his ars. He closes his eyes, unable to stop the way they swim, all of his self-control going into not bursting into panicked, confused tears. Arashi’s not moving, at all. It’s not real, he tries to tell himself, there’s now way that the horrible doll just killed Arashi, right? Arashi can’t be dead, there’s no way.

But his eyes insist otherwise.

“Congratulations, Shu-chan, Kuro-chan. Your little loophole did not fail. As for Arashi-chan, well...she did not directly break a rule, so I cannot punish her completely. Yet, some punishment needed to be administered. You may wish to tell Mika-chan so. 

“Additionally, everyone, if I could please have your attention? Thank you, thank you. We will be holding another meeting at 9:30, you know the location. I expect everyone, including Narukami, to be present.” As per usual, Mademoiselle is gone after her little announcement, barely making a noise as the cafeteria door closes behind her. Moment’s later, Mika’s voice follows.

“Naru-chan’s breathin’!” He sounds almost shocked, voice still shaking. One of his hands hovers over Arashi’s mouth and nose for a moment, double-checking his findings, before the arm slacks and nearly drops Arashi as a result. He announces his conclusion again, although this time a bit quieter and a bit less shocked-sounding. Mika’s expression shows clear relief as he manages to get Arashi into the chair Mika had been sitting in just moments before, then uprighting Arashi’s fallen chair and throwing himself down rather ungratefully.

“How long until Narukami wakes up?” Mao asks, seemingly wary of the unconscious body next to him. Knowing that Arashi isn’t dead, it doesn’t bother Mika at all. No one answers him, of course, more distracted by the fact that there's another meeting-another motive to be had. 

“Hey...didn't you hear?” Ritsu’s voice interrupts Mika’s confused and anxious babbling. “There’s a motive, we've gotta worry about that first..” Mika’s eyes widen, looking around the room for a moment until they settle back on Arashi’s peaceful face. Without a moment of hesitation, Mika leans down to kiss Arashi, of all things-right on the lips. When Ritsu quietly clears his throat Mika jumps away, looking up with red cheeks and a sheepish grin. 

“I was tryna wake Naru-chan up! Like sleepin’ beauty, ya know?”

“Maa-kun doesn't do that when I sleep.” Ritsu pouts, crossing his arms and facing Mao a bit more. 

“Sleeping beauty doesn’t try to bite people in her sleep,” Mao responds, crossing his arms and rolling his eyes. Ritsu puts a little more, but Mao says nothing in response.

 

Unfortunately, 9:30 comes all too quickly. Especially for Mika, who finds that Arashi shows no signs of waking up. He finds that he’s not strong enough to carry Arashi, but neither of them can miss the meeting, so he opts for trying to drag the blonde instead. It looks stupid, he feels pretty ridiculous, dragging Arashi across the ground by the arm, but at least they’re getting somewhere. Hopefully Arashi won’t be too mad at Mika for probably getting dirt on his pants.

“Kagehira, what on Earth are you doing?” Mika jumps, dropping Arashi’s arm, and turns around. Shu and Kuro are behind him, approaching the scene with confused looks.

“I had ta get Naru-chan there somehow,” he defends himself, reaching for Arashi’s arm once more as the two third years stop and stand next to him.

“Need help?” Kuro’s fingers lightly wrap around Arashi’s other wrist, lifting that arm off the ground. Mika looks up at Kuro for a moment before nodding, dropping the other arm and letting Kuro pick Arashi up with little to no effort. Arashi doesn’t stir at all, and so the three continue to the designated meeting room.

They’re the last people to arrive, just before the clock hits 9:30. Mademoiselle clears her throat but doesn’t say anything, looking them over with a small nod before turning back to the from of the room. She clears her throat, even though the room is already silent. There’s a sudden throbbing in the pit of Mika’s stomach,like he’s eaten something, but he assumes it’s just an anxious reaction. He shifts his feet a little, curling his hands into the sides of his pants and gritting his teeth.

Suddenly, the pain grows from obnoxious to dizzying, unbearable. He grabs his head, trying to reach out for something solid and alarmed when there’s nothing there for him to grab. The other hand flies to his stomach, grabbing at the pain like he might be able to pry it out of his skin. His vision swims, enough that he can’t see anything before he shuts his eyes tight. The blood rushing in his ears quickly falls silent, and the pain dissolves for a moment.

When Mika opens his eyes again, luckily, the pain has dissolved into a dull ache, nothing he can’t handle. However, looking around, he sees a scene not unlike when they first arrived at this...not-Yumenosaki. Everyone else is unconscious on the floor too, except for Arashi, he notes. She’s sitting in the corner, knees drawn up to their chin and staring blankly at the opposite corner of the room. Her eyes are glazed and empty, but Mika can tell by the way that her fingers tap ever so slightly on the side of her leg that Arashi is very much conscious, very much alive.

“Naru-chan…” Mika mutters to himself, crawling up onto tingling legs and trying not to trip over anyone as he makes his way to Arashi. Arashi turns to look at him, eyes going from blank to relieved, head falling forward.

“Naru-chan, wha’s wrong?” Mika reaches out to touch Arashi’s shoulder, and Arashi flinches away of all things. Mika draws his hand back instantly as well, like he’s been burned by something on Arashi’s shirt. Arashi shakes her head silently, then pulls it up to look at Mika directly.

“S-sorry,” she stutters, uncurling and reaching her arms out. Mika, still taken aback, hesitates for a moment before reaching for Arashi as well. She’s shaking when Mika’s arms wrap around her, and some kind of strange anger replaces the ache in his stomach. It’s not like Arashi to be like this, this scared of everything, at all. Something must have happened, Mika decides, something bad.

“Do you know what day it is?” Arashi asks, leaning back but lacking her fingers through Mika’s.

“July twenty-seventh?” he asks, although he doesn’t know why it comes out as a question when he’s sure of the answer. Arashi shakes her head no, sighing.

“August second,” she answers, looking down at the ground. “You were all missing when I woke up, and then Mademoiselle led me here. You just kinda showed up from time to time-there was nothing could do but watch, I thought you all were dead and I was responsible. I’m so, so sorry, Mika-chan.”

Mika blinks at Arashi before pulling out his ID card, which has remained in his pocket, to check the date. Sure enough, the screen reads ‘2 August’, like yesterday was the first. So they’ve all been unconscious for six days, Mika realizes. And Arashi had nothing to do but watch them. No wonder she looks so broken, he realizes with a start.

“Don’ apologize, Naru-chan...I think we should be tha ones apologizin’ to ya. Actually…” Mika leans back in to let Arashi rest her head on his shoulder, content to sit in the silence.

He doesn’t know how long they stay like that, but he’s suddenly interrupted by a robotic, metallic cough. Mika looks turns his head a little, to see that suddenly, everyone else is sitting and awake and Mademoiselle is looking at Arashi and him quite expectantly.

“I truly hate to ruin such a tender moment, Mika-chan, but I require the attention of everyone for the time being.” 

Arashi pulls away, lightning fast, before Mika can barely even process the words that have been said. Mika gives her a nervous and slightly confused glance, to which Arashi just smiles and shakes her head as if to say, ‘don’t worry about it.’ Mika sighs, looking away from the blonde and turning his eyes to Mademoiselle.

“As of recent events, we have had a tracking device installed in each of you. This device will double as a microphone and contains a small amount of a toxin. It is advised that from here on out, no rules are broken. Elsewise, you might find yourself with...quite the stomachache.” Mademoiselle chuckles, and Mika suddenly finds himself very sick to his stomach, reaching down to grab it. The skin under his shirt feels oddly rough, and bumpy, and with a shaking hand Mika reaches up pull the bottom of his shirt up.

There’s a crude scar, something that doesn’t look exactly real, drawn on his stomach. He runs his finger over the mark, pressing into it with a look of horror on his face that he can feel. Any kind of accusational words catch in his throat, the realizations of others being vocalized but not registering in his ears. He can’t help but wonder if it was something related to this that was why Arashi apologized to him, why Arashi looked-looks-so shaken up.

“However, that is not all,” Mademoiselle begins. She turns to the large screen behind her, as per usual, which suddenly flickers to life to reveal the image of a terrified-looking girl with long, dark red hair and wide eyes, wrists handcuffed to the bars of what could only be some kind of cell.

“What if I told you that, although they suffered severe injuries from many of you, the majority of your loved ones are still very much alive?” Mademoiselle asks. The girl on screen yanks her wrists back, a look of pain shooting onto her face as she does so. When the handcuffs move with her efforts, Mika spots blood dripping down, them, blood on her unhealthy-pale skin. Whoever that girl is, she’s clearly been there for a while. His eyes dart around the room in an attempt to look away from that scene.

It must be Kuro’s sister, Mika realizes, after his eyes land on the third year. His eyes turn back to the screen-there’s a different person there, although Mika stops paying attention to who shows up. He’s too focused on the dull ache in his stomach that suddenly makes him feel very, very sick.

 

Because the realizations that there’s a poison capsule and a track device in his stomach, and that his sister might very well be alive isn’t enough to think about, Mao realizes something else too. There’s technically no rule in place yet that will prevent him from exploring on the laptop-meaning he has to get as much does as he can before that rule goes into place. Prying himself from the grasp of a sleeping Ritsu who still refuses to sleep in his own room, Mao checks the clock in his room to see that it’s 2:30 in the morning. Inconvenient, yes, but he’s slept about four and a half hours so that’s probably enough to get him through the next day. If he ends up falling asleep anyways, he’s sure Ritsu will be more than happy to nap with him.

He accidentally walks into the wall while trying to navigate in his pitch-black room, kept dark for Ritsu’s sake. He curses under his breath, hoping that Ritsu hasn’t woken back up. Luckily, it seems he hasn’t, and Mao manages to grab the laptop and the sheet of paper on top with the passwords written on it.

His walk to the library is a quick one, but he’s more than shocked to see that the door is slightly ajar when he gets there. Strange-there’s light coming from inside too. Who would be awake at this hour? A chill travels down his spine at the thought of someone waiting in there to kill an unsuspecting passerby, but he dismisses that thought as best he can. He opens the door enough to enter and closes it behind him. As Mao passes through the rows of books, he hears the sound of a book page turning from his left. Stepping out from the aisle, Mao turns to see Keito, leaning over a book at a desk, the main source of the light a bright lamp turned on next to him.

“Hasumi-senpai?” Keito jumps and turns around, and Mao waves a little bit- as best as he can with the laptop in his arms.

“Isara, why are you awake at this hour? What time is it, anyways?” Keito takes his glasses off, rubbing his eyes before he puts them back on.

“It’s...2:30, a little later. I had something to work on and I didn’t want to wake Ritsu up.” Mao sighs, brushing a piece of hair out of his face. He’d taken it down to sleep, but had forgotten to put it back up. “I should be asking you the same thing, though, Hasumi-senpai. Have you slept yet? You should, I can look over whatever you’re doing.”

“I’m reading up on the school’s history. I want to know if we have any long-standing enemies.” Keito responds, shaking his head no as he speaks. “Do your work, Isara, I can manage this on my own.” There’s an unspoken addition to Keito’s statement-he’s looking for someone who might be responsible. Mao nods, understanding the feeling of needing to get things done.

Unfortunately, the area of the library where Keito sits has no outlets for the laptop-the lamp there being battery-powered. Mao makes his way to the other side of the library, where he can plug the laptop in. While he waits for it to power on, the returns to the book aisles. There might be a book about coding and decoding there-either the computer type, or more abstract alphanumeric type. He doubts he’ll find any type of source code for the program on the laptop, and is even less certain that if he does, he’ll be able to make any sense of it. That was Makoto’s field-unfortunately, with no chance of Makoto returning any time soon, mao will have to figure it out somehow. He finds a couple books that look like the might be of use to him, and returns to the laptop to set them down.

The next step, he decides, is to grab an energy drink or something that will keep him awake. He might as well grab Keito one while he’s at it-they both seem like they’re going to be working until morning. Starting up the strange program on the laptop, Maograbs his ID card from the desk last-minute when he sets out to leave the library.

Walking to the cafeteria, he pulls out the ID card and looks over it-there’s a new shape on the bottom of the ‘map’ page that looks like a little head. When he taps it, little drawing of each person’s head suddenly shows up above the building they’re in-Keito’s above the school building, everyone else’s above the dormitory building and his inbetween. Clicking on the dormitory, Mao sees that he can scroll in closer and look-everyone is in their room, save for Ritsu, who’s still in his, and Mika, who’s in Arashi’s.

He decides on getting two drinks for both him and Keito, hoping that will be enough to get them through the night. When he returns to the library, Keito is still looking away, although the number of books on his desk has increased by a few. Mao wordlessly sets the cans down where Keito can see them. Keito looks up at him, nods, and then goes back to his reading. Mao watches him for a moment before he opens one of the cans in his hand, taking a drink from it and going back to where the laptop is.

When Mao is gone, Keito sets down the book in his hand. His head hurts from reading for too long, and his glasses aren’t helping. He debates taking them off-he can read close-up with them on fine enough, but if something happens he could be screwed if they’re not on. In the end, he decides that maybe giving his head a break for a few minutes will probably increase his productivity. It does feel nice to take the glasses off, after all. He opens one of the drinks Mao brought him, thankful for the other’s generosity.

Be barely registers the sound of the library door opening behind him. Probably Mao, he thinks, or maybe it’s Ritsu who’s come looking for Mao. That wouldn’t be a surprise, either. Keito thinks nothing of the sound, still scanning the book in his hands. It’s about the history of the idol industry-a far reach, but potentially anything could be a lead. He’s writing down any names that stand out on a sheet of paper with him, although the search is not going too well. He’s only found a few names, and none of them are very related to what he’s trying to look for. He needs someone who would be bitter and angry enough to kill people and cause a potentially nation-wide crisis. Over some teenage idols.

He’d thought briefly before of that idea that it could be someone from the school-the fact that someone was alive that shouldn’t have been made that fact even more apparent. Yet, there were little to no details given by Kuro on that situation, because he was interrupted by Mademoiselle coming in and knocking out Arashi, the damned doll. He didn’t even know that the bodies were being stored on the campus-they weren’t in the infirmary, which he felt would make the most sense.

Tomorrow, he decides, he’ll ask Kuro or Shu maybe and see if he can figure out where that room is. He’s not going to ask Arashi, not after what happened last time he was awake.

Keito sets down the book he’s reading, rubbing his eyes again. They’re dry and uncomfortable and tired, but his blood is rushing under his skin-he needs to get this done, or it’s not going to stop bothering him. However, the sound of a familiar voice behind him distracts Keito. He sighs, looking behind him to see what the intruder wants. However, what he sees completely shocks them.

He barely has time to register-no, he has no time at all to register when the person, who had quite possibly the largest hardcover book he’d ever seen raised in their hands, brought their arms down impossibly fast. He felt the book collide with his head before he really felt the pain of it, knocking the air out of him and pushing his head onto the desk. His head swims suddenly, eyes blinking frantically as he searches for the paper. He knows who the person was that hit him, so maybe if he just writes down, that will help?

Unfortunately, his motor coordination is gone, hand unwilling to move and grab at the pen. Taking what he knows will be one final look behind him, he sees the intruder standing behind him with a look of horror on their face. The look of horror then turns into something more neutral, and they sigh.

“Sorry.”

Keito’s world goes black.

Mao hears the distant sound of something slamming behind him, followed by what kind of sounds like a frustrated groan. He jumps, twisting, but he can’t see Keito. The noise sounded like a book falling, he realizes-Keito probably just dropped a book. Going back and forth between whether or not he should investigate, Mao decides he’ll give it a couple more minutes and see if he hears anything else. If he just distracts Keito, then Keito’s going to be pretty annoyed with him.

Distracted by the noise, Mao finds himself accidentally making the window for the program he’s on half-screen instead of fullscreen. Sighing at his own mistake, Mao goes to open the window back to full screen-but the dragging motion of the mouse doesn’t register, as he’s accidentally right-clicked on the edge of the tab. A few options pop up, one of which he realizes is-’Source’.

Mao turns back to a chapter in a book he’d found that detailed basic computer program coding. It hadn’t made very much sense to him, but he could always look for dates or suspicious names in the jumble of letters and numbers. Opening the the source and keeping the window half-screen, he also opens the laptop’s notes applications so he can write down anything he finds.

The first sets of lines don’t hold anything of value. However, it’s when he gets a bit further into the code that Mao finds another strange line- one that reads ‘BREACH-191111191119’-even written in a different color than most of the lies he sees. He quickly writes the string of numbers down, careful to get the right amount of ones and nines. A few more lines down, he sees another line ‘BREACH-11521’. He writes that down too, followed by a third string- ‘BREACH-811821111231’.

There’s nothing else that catches Mao’s eye for a long time-likely because he’s too tired to really notice anything. However, when he gets to the bottom of the code, he sees something strange-there’s some kind of drawing, he realizes. It’s a large amount of capital letter ‘L’s, put together to make one giant ‘L’. ‘Leader’, he realizes, writing down the fact that such a thing exists as well. He’ll come back to the code later.

With three more codes, Mao is more determined to figure out what the system’s way of disguising passwords is. There’s a chance the string of numbers could have some significance, as well. He closes the coding book and picks up the other one, a short guide to decoding numbers and letters. There’s a lot of very complicated looking cyphers in the beginning, ones that Mao struggles to understand and gets nonsensical results from. However, there’s one last chart-on the back of the cover, it looks like it was messily drawn in red ink. It’s a basic table, with all the letters of the alphabet and a corresponding number to each one. Figuring that he can work this out, Mao picks up the pen and gets to work, carefully deciphering the codes.

He quickly finds that the difference between ‘11’ and ‘1’, or ‘19’ and 1 9 1’ is a big problem when it comes to decoding the first string of numbers, with so many side-by-side duplicates. However, the answer he gets and believes to be right both surprises Mao and makes complete sense to him- “sakasaki’. Natsume’s name. With a feeling of what the other two lines could be, Mao decides to decode them. They’re easier to do with an idea of what he’s looking for, but he checks a few alternate translations in case. Sure enough, the other two lines decode to ‘aoba’ and ‘harukawa’-so all of Switch had at some time been involved in a ‘breach’.

Mao looks up at the clock on the wall and realizes that it’s almost 5 am-the sun is just starting to peek over the horizon. He almost hopes Keito passed out or something in the middle of the night, just so he got a little bit of sleep. Deciding that he should definitely share this find, however, Mao stands up and tries to shake the pins and needles feeling out of his left foot. 

Paper in hand, he makes his way to where Keito is sitting. He approaches him from the front of the desk trying to wake him quietly at first, then raising his voice a bit louder. Who knew Keito was such a heavy sleeper? Sighing, Mao goes to reach for Keito’s shoulder when he notices something already there-something red and dry. It looks to be coming from his head-definitely not good. Mao runs his hand down the back of the other's head, and nearly falls backwards when it comes away smeared with red.

Hands shaking, Mao reaches for one of Keito’s arms, bushing back the sleeve with his clean hand and holding a pair of fingers to his wrist. He can’t feel anything through his own shaking, and Mao takes a few more breaths to calm himself before trying intently to focus on feeling for a pulse.

His results are nothing.

Keito died in the room that night, Mao realizes. He managed to escape by such a narrow margin-he’s lucky he didn’t get up at the sound of that thunk. If that was Keito being killed, there would have been nothing to do, and Mao would have been killed as a witness. He sighs, still shaking when he drop’s Keito’s arm to the desk. He shoves the paper in his pants pocket, wiping his hand off on the inside of his jacket when returns to his desk to grab the laptop. He doesn’t want to risk anyone taking it while he’s gone, it’s far too valuable. The books he can come back to later. For now, he needs to set the alarm off.

 

If you told Chiaki he’d soon see the day where Midori was shaking him awake instead of the other way around, he’d probably laugh. Not to be rude, of course, but Midori was so lethargic in the mornings that even Chiaki’s enthusiasm couldn't always awaken him. 

So why did Midori suddenly show up in Chiaki’s room, shaking his upperclassman awake at some ungodly hour of the morning and calling his name until he got a response? Chiaki wasn’t sure, but if something got enough energy pumping through Midori, it had to be important. 

It’s still dark out, the sun only a faint stain of purples and pinks on the horizon. When Chiaki opens his eyes, Midori is pulling him up, looking frantic, apologizing, his face unusually expressive. Something clearly got him pretty riled up-Chiaki has rarely seen Midori this energetic, let alone at the crack of dawn. 

“Morisawa-senpai, you-you’ve gotta come outside.” Midori’s voice is shaky, words slightly slurred.

Chiaki’s still barefoot and not entirely awake as Midori pulls him into the hallway, not caring for the slam of the door behind them. Careful not to slip on the cold tile flooring, Chiaki follows the unusually energized Midori outside. He wants to stop and ask Midori if he can go back and get his shoes, at the least, as it looks kind of muddy outside, but from the look on Midori’s face Chiaki’s worried he might get punched if he asks that. Besides, if someone so badly needs the Hero of Justice, Ryusei Red, for something, then who is he to refuse?

The ground is muddy and quite honestly a little bit disgusting underfoot, but Chiaki does his best to hurry along the mess anyways. He can tell Midori is heading for the fountain, giving him a suspicion of what's happening with a feeling that makes his heart leap, thudding pulses in his throat. Still tired and with blurry eyes, it’s hard to see just what Midori has realized until Chiaki’s far too close. 

Draped over the side of the fountain with blooming purple and red and blue marks across his neck is none other than Kanata. Except for open eyes, his expression is unusually peaceful, and Chiaki can't help but wonder if Kanata didn't even know he was being killed. 

“Morisawa-senpai, I…” Midori starts, but Chiaki silences him with a hand gesture and a pleading look, kneeling at Kanata’s head. Carefully, as if he's scared to break Kanata even more, Chiaki closes the familiar green eyes that stare hazily up at him. When he turns his head to the side, Chiaki can see Midori standing in what could only be horror, his hands covering the majority of his face. 

Chiaki stands up, trying and failing to wipe the mud off of his pants. He grabs Midori’s wrists, probably harder than he should, but with shaking hands nonetheless.

“We are going to figure out who did this.”. It’s not a question, it’s almost an order. Midori nods, slowly, letting his arms fall to his side when Chiaki releases them and trying to read the burning look in his eyes. 

Chiaki knows, deep down, that Kanata has to be somewhere, watching over them and keeping them all safe. And so, to make him proud, he’ll do everything in his power to find the guilty party. It’s all he can do for his own personal hero, Ryusei Blue. 

“We need to find someone else, so the alarm will go off,” Midori says. He takes a few steps away from Chiaki, turning back towards the dormitory area, face grim. Chiaki begins to follow him, still barely able to comprehend that Kanata is dead, when he hears a voice coming from behind him and turns around.

“Morisawa-senpai? Takamine?” The voice belongs to Mao, who’s running out of the school building with messy hair and bags under his eyes and a laptop clutched in his arms. His face is pale, and only seems to pale further when he approaches enough to see the unusually grim look on Chiaki’s face.

There’s a loud bell that sounds, and Mao stops dead in his tracks. Chiaki watches as he looks around, green eyes flying in every direction at once before his eyes find Kanata, slumped against the side of the fountain and the back of his bruised neck exposed to the cool morning air.

Mao looks just a shaken as Chiaki feels, slowly shaking his head no and taking a few steps back. When the voice of Mademoiselle fills the clearing with the news that someone is dead, Mao mouths a few words to Chiaki- ‘he’s not the only one.’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> haha arashi's not dead but keito and kanata are  
> can this be my late april fool's joke?  
> mmmm..what is switch doing? bonus points if you can figure out the other passwords and what they mean i'll be very very impressed  
> as always, thanks for reading!
> 
> come scream on twitter @squirrellissa


	36. UPDATE

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> NOT A CHAPTER

hey so. it's 12:30 am and i'm posting this on mobile because i feel i at least owe an explanation as to where i've been these past 2 months (owch)

not gonna go into details but basically, i've been very very busy with life. school, lots of big tests and some personal matters as well. i've been working around on new chapters but really i haven't had a lot of motivation lately. 

school ends pretty soon for me-i'm still a high school student. finals end the fifteenth for me. i never planned to abandon this project even if it's been quite a lot more work than i originally intended just because i've come so far. i'll try to have something done within the next week-week and a half but no promises yet, ok?

thank you, and thanks for supporting me this far! i love and appreciate everyone who takes the time to read my stories, whether i know them or not. sorry this wasn't an actual update, but that should be coming soon enough!! thanks for your patience.   
<3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i also wanna thank everyone for not calling me out on taking so long-apart from like one anon on curiouscat no one's been giving me shit for not being very active. i hope to be back to writing soon!


	37. 6-4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> However, Mao can’t help but feel that this might just be too easy-there has to be some type of catch. There’s no way this will find them their killer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> IM ALIVE i'm sorry for the long wait thank you for being patient with me u_u  
> hopefully this will make sense, but if there's anything that needs clarification leave a comment and i'll do my best to address it!

When Ritsu wakes up to a body discovery alarm and discovers Mao is no long next to him-in fact he’s nowhere to be seen- he (understandably) panics. He all but throws himself from the bed, eyes frantically searching for any sign of Mao. The room doesn't show any signs of a struggle, but Mao’s laptop is gone as well. Hopefully he’s just taken the laptop with him, and he's safe, not dead in some room somewhere. If Mao’s dead too, just like Izumi, then there's no way he’ll be able to ignore the guilt that already tries to suffocate him. 

People in the hallway are beginning to move when Ritsu leaves. The sun hovers on the horizon, a flaming ball of orange that hurts his eyes to look at. Trying not to trip over his own tired feet, Ritsu pushes past his brother (who he notes looks even paler than normal) and a few others before he sees what he knows is Mao’s head. He stands by the fountain, probably talking to someone-likely Chiaki, he realizes. 

Mao nearly falls over when Ritsu shoves him his shoulder to get his attention, and Ritsu realizes that Mao probably hasn't slept all night. Green eyes turn to glare at him, surprise masked by a thick layer of hazy exhaustion. 

“I thought you were dead.” Ritsu says, trying to look as frustrated as his voice sounds. Mao blinks at him, needing a moment to process the words before sighing and staring down at the ground. 

“Sorry, I had work to do.”

The excuse is so typically Mao that it frustrates Ritsu further. Mao could have been dead for all either of them knew, yet he acts like he was just staying late to handle Student Council paperwork again. This isn’t the world they’re used to, after all, 

“Actually, I should...be dead...I’m lucky. Keito and I were both in the library when he was killed.”

“Maakun...that's bad. Stupid Maakun.” Ritsu cuffs Mao on the back of the head. “Don't go announcing you were there. It makes you suspicious.” Mao sighs-his sleep-deprived mind hadn't even thought of that. 

“I don't have to say it. They put that tracking thing on our ID cards, I bet they have a rewind feature too.” He should probably check that out during the investigation. “For now though, I need to bring the laptop to my room and go back to the library. Are you coming?” Ritsu looks towards the horizon, the pink of the sun only amplifying the color of his eyes when he shrugs.

“I might fall asleep,” he begins with a yawn. “But if it keeps Maakun safe then I’ll push through.” Mao doesn't understand how Ritsu will “push through” anything if he falls asleep, but holds back any comments as Ritsu follows him back to the dormitory building. 

No one remains in the building, everyone having left once the alarms went off. Mao quickly sets the laptop down in his room and leaves, although the sound of a door that doesn't belong to him closing startles both him and Ritsu. 

“Did you hear that?” Mao asks. Ritsu nods. “It sounded like it came from closer to the entrance...maybe we should ring all the doorbells, just in case?” He doubts anyone would come to the door, but it doesn’t change the fact that someone heading back to their room in the beginning of a murder investigation is, well, pretty suspicious to say the least. Mao turns to ring the doorbell next to him when he hears someone clearing their throat in front of him, and Ritsu’s voice follows.

“Don't touch him.”

Ritsu’s voice comes out from behind Mao as a low, almost growling sound. Mao jumps, startled, his eyes traveling from Ritsu to the front of the hallway. There stands a masked figure, one arm raised with a gun in their hand-pointed directly at Mao. The figure is completely hidden by black fabric, so Mao can’t get a good idea of their appearance. Especially not when Ritsu steps right in front of him. 

Mao swears he hears a laugh before there’s a loud bang, and Ritsu jumps back into him. His mind blanks, panicking immediately until he realizes that Ritsu is very much alive and just startled, blinking up at the ceiling. Having taken the moment of confusion to slip away, all that remains in the hidden person's place is a small, white piece of paper. 

“Don't learn too much,” Ritsu reads, crumpling the note in his hand. Mao barely registered him walking away, the bang of the blank-firing gun still making his heart and brain pound and fall out of sync. Ritsu throws the note into some corner of the hallway, and Mao has half the mind to tell him to go pick it up, but stops himself.

“We should probably go to the library, I bet other people will be there,” Mao offers. Ritsu nods, wordlessly. His eyes still stare in the direction of the paper he threw, but he doesn’t stand still when Mao approaches him. He trails a few paces behind Mao, looking around as if the same hooded figure might jump back out at them again. It’s strange-Ritsu isn’t normally jumpy about anything.

 

Just as he expected, Mao finds the library to already have people. The first two he sees are Kuro and Tetora, talking about something in obviously hushed voices. They both turn to look when mao opens the library door, the wood making a gentle noise as it connects with the wall behind it. The sounds of talking in the distance means that those two aren’t the only others in the library.

“Did you find something?” Mao asks immediately, approaching the pair. They’re standing next to one of many tall bookcases, although it’s very easy to see that there’s a large gap in one row of books-likely the book that was the murder weapon.

“Sorta. We found where the weapon's from,” Kuro responds, pointing to the very obvious gap in the bookshelf. The shelf itself is dusty, but the dust in front of the gap is streaked, as if something were dragged through it-namely, a large book. 

“It looks like the same size as the book that killed Hasumi-senpai,” Tetora adds, his eyes looking back towards the Keito’s body a couple dozen feet behind them. Mao briefly wonders if he knows about Kanata’s death as well-probably, although it comes as a bit of a surprise to him that he’s in the library, instead of investigating with Chiaki and Midori. The other two had seemed to be on quite the mission last time he’d caught a glimpse of them.

“Nagumo!” 

The door to the library slamming open is accompanied by a loud yell of Chiaki’s voice, just in time to contradict Mao’s earlier thoughts. A few paces behind him is Midori, watching with a look of complete exasperation on his face. He doesn’t follow Chiaki as the older moves further into the library, heading straight for Tetora. 

“There you are! Takamine and I have been searching! I demand that you assist us in finding the killer...of…” Chiaki's voice loses its fire rapidly, Midori looking about ready to walk out altogether. His point is clear nonetheless-they want Tetora to help investigate Kanata’s death. He looks back at Kuro, almost as if asking for permission to leave.

“You heard them.” Tetora stumbles forward, towards Chiaki, when Kuro pushes the back of his shoulder. Chiaki’s face falls into an unusually somber expression, perfectly understandably. Tetora nods, following Chiaki when his unit leader leaves the library.

“Maakun, did you see anything by him?”

“By Shinka-senpai? The scene was pretty clean, but from what I saw, it looked like he was strangled…” Ritsu nods, satisfied with that answer.

“Kiryu-senpai, have you looked around in here yet?” Mao asks, looking around the library for himself. It’s not much different than when he left earlier, although there are a few people by Keito’s body. Kuro nods, shooting a tired look over to where Keito’s body is, before turning back to his two underclassmen.

Just then, Mao’s pocket buzzes, the victim files having been loaded onto the ID cards. The first one is Kanata’s, meaning he had to have died before Keito. The files prove this, and it’s a difference of unknown proportions-Kanata’s death is simply list as ‘in between 3:00 am and 5:05 am’, and Keito at 5:05 am.

“I should probably tell ya, there’s a tracking thing on the map.” Kuro’s voice surprises Mao a little but he nods, quickly thanking his upperclassman before switching to that tab. However, Mao can’t help but feel that this might just be too easy-there has to be some type of catch. There’s no way this will find them their killer.

 

Back outside, Tetora’s pretty sure he’s never seen this level of dedication, ever, from Chiaki. The third-year has a pad of paper and a pen with him, lines of observations and ideas already written in quick, messy handwriting. He can’t help but wonder if Chiaki is overthinking this-and judging by Midori’s expression, he’s not alone in that sentiment. Nonetheless, Kanata is dead, and there’s no denying that none of them want him to go unavenged.

Tetora kneels down on the ground, which is only beginning to warm under the morning sun. Kanata’s body is still resting in the fountain, as if he’s still alive and simply in the fountain as he so frequently was. However, now, there are unmistakeable red and purple marks around Kanata’s neck, the soaked fabric of his shirt unable to hide any of the marks that would bloom below the line of his clothes.

“He was killed after Hasumi-senpai...I guess the killer probably saw him on the way back from the dorms.” Midori states, voice dry. The sounds of a pencil on paper follows after-clearly Chiaki writing down Midori’s words.

“Oh my god…” another voice sounds, although it’s barely audible to Tetora over the rush of the fountain’s water. He turns his head slightly, glad to look away from the dead body in front of him, to see Rei and Kaoru. Not a surprise-he’s seen Kaoru coercing Kanata out of the fountain, and Rei is one of the Oddballs, just like Kanata.

Rei stays silent, although he takes a few steps forward to lean over the fountain. His face is strangely emotionless, but when he braces his hands on the rim of the fountain to get better look, Tetora can see how his nails seem to try to be digging into the stonework. The first year takes a step back, slipping a little when his foot backs into something on the ground.

It’s a thin plastic cylinder, about fifteen centimeters in length-the length of an ID card, to be exact. One of the closed ends is painted green, although most of the color has been scratched off. Curious, Tetora shakes the plastic object, and something-although he isn’t quite sure what-rattles inside. The object sounds metallic, at least.

He takes out his own ID card, stepping away from the group of people gathered at the fountain. Turning the card over in his hand, Tetora finds a small red circle, the size of the closed end of the cylinder on his own ID card. He presses on the circle, and it clicks, moving down. Tetora jumps a little at the discovery even more surprise when the red circle comes loose, and pulling it out reveals a plastic cylinder identical to the one he’d found on the ground, save for the color of the end.

The other cylinder slides into his card with no problems, and so Tetora slides the one from his card into the pocket of his pants. It doesn’t change anything that he can see, so it’s probably just a battery. Why they’re different colors, he isn’t quite sure, but he can figure that out later.

“...and these are mine,” he hears Midori saying, attention turned back to the actual murder scene. Midori is gesturing to a set of footprints on the ground, ones that lead to a few feet in front of the fountain, then head right back in the direction of the dormitory building. Those ones are further apart, like he’d been running in that direction.

“Then, these ones are Morisawa-senpai’s, when he came back out with me,” Midori says. “There’s a star on the heel of the shoe, any of those should be his...I think.” There’s two sets of prints where Midori points.

“Ah, but there’s ones back here?” Kaoru interjects, standing on the other side of the fountain. He has his back mostly turned away from Kanata, although it’s easy to notice that his eyes don’t stray even a centimeter downwards. And he’s right-there are three sets of footprints, both leading from the school to the fountain. One set is definitely larger than the other.

“One of these is Isara’s,” Chiaki adds, although he doesn’t point out which set they are.

“And the other one is the killer?” Kaoru asks. Chiaki nods, his eyes returning to stare at Kanata’s lifeless body.

 

“Ritsu, is there anything else I should write down?”

Ritsu, half-asleep as per usual, shakes his head no. He and Mao have spent a good amount of their investigation period trying to make use of the tracking function on ID cards, although their success was somewhat limited. A few minutes of playing with controls was enough to let Mao and Ritsu find a cloaking feature, which effectively hid the signal from the ID cards. Additionally, there wasn’t even a guarantee that the killer had their ID on them at the time of the murder-a room door could easily be propped open, or perhaps even an extra ID had been hidden on campus. Especially considering that Mao had caught wind of a rumor that the dead bodies of students were being hidden on campus, another ID could have easily been taken and used as a key card, thanks to the universal keys.

They had found a decent amount of movement during the night. First, not too long after lights out, Mika had gone into Arashi’s room. Not much longer, Shu had gone to Kuro’s, although he returned to his room shortly thereafter. Then, there was a long period of no activity. At around 3:15 or so, Leo had left his room. Ten minutes later, Kanata had left, and his signal had stopped at the exit of the dormitory. Leo was quickly revealed to just be in the cafeteria, apparently getting a midnight snack.

Around the same time as Kanata, Rei leaves his room. Ritsu leaves Mao’s room too, and the two signals are in front of the dormitory building, where Kanata’s disappeared, before Ritsu’s goes back inside, while Rei’s remains outside for a while longer before entering.

Just after this, at 3:50, Natsume had left his room, followed by Tsumugi and Sora, down to the secret room that had been discovered during the last murder investigation. Each one, Mao noted, took a different path to get there-Sora went through the school in a path Mao didn’t know existed, Tsumugi went through the dormitory building, and Natsume through the passage in the auditorium. Although that was quite curious, it unfortunately didn’t provide any clues.

Then, there was the signal of Mao leaving the school building to get energy drinks, a little after four. A few minutes later, there was the signal of Kuro and Shu both leaving their rooms. Kuro’s signal cuts out, while Shu’s continues to the fountain before returning to the dormitory. Kanata’ signal isn’t picked up at all.

Then, a bit after 5 am, Midori’s signal goes out to the fountain, then back to the dormitory, quickly followed by both Chiaki and Midori’s signals. A few minutes later, Mao’s signal leaves the school and travels to the fountain, with Midori and Chiaki. Then, the usual chaos of an investigation follows.

Just as Mao finished reviewing the notes, the bell signaling the end of the investigation period rang. Mao jumped, cursing under his breath-he didn’t feel at all prepared for the trial. Apart from a few pieces of of evidence found in the library (namely the large anthology book used to kill Keito), he and Ritsu didn’t find much, so hopefully the rest of the group had some valuable information.

However, the little information they did have raised a few questions. Why were so many people leaving their rooms? Why could the tracking be masked? Was there a purpose to the tracking devices? And, most importantly, what the hell was Switch up to?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tbh i'm not sure if the trackers is a good idea considering the killer could have just turned theirs off....but it's gonna be useful in the future too, so why not?   
> again, if there's anything that needs clarification or more detail, don't hesitate to tell me! i'll do my bet to clear up any issues and get this show on the road again hehh  
> thanks once again, and as always, for reading!  
> twit@ rltsumao


	38. 6-5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “You...what the hell?” The ID card in Tetora’s hand drops to the floor, the first-year nearly flinging himself over the railing. “You’re not a murderer!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'm back bitches

Mao anxiously tucks the notes he has into his pocket, making sure that they won’t fall out. He needs those very much. Without them, he has no evidence for the trial. Well, he has a picture of the book used to kill Keito, along with the gap in the bookshelf where the book is missing from, but those are obvious things. Nothing that could be used to easily catch a killer.

The lack of a time of death for Kanata is a big source of frustration as well. Mao understand that it’s how the masterminds play their game-nothing can ever be easy for the people they hold captive. It simply wouldn’t be enough fun for them. In his mind, there isn’t a large range of culprits simply because of how Keito was killed. Unless the book fell on him from above or was rigged to fall (unlikely, as there wasn’t any kind of setup in the library), then the killer had to use a lot of strength to kill Keito.

The book was heavy enough that some people in the school probably wouldn’t even be able to lift it up. Unfortunately, there was no way to test the book for fingerprints, so the book itself was the only clue. Additionally, there was the state of Keito’s body-specifically his head. It seems likely that he was hit from behind, but there’s also quite the dent on his forehead as well. The likely solution is that he was hit from behind and his head was forced into the desk from the impact.

This time around, the courtroom feels like it’s outside-the walls must be greenscreen, as the pattern of a night sky with twinkling stars is plastered on them. Clouds slowly drift across the screen, the calm footage contradicting the tense atmosphere inside the room. 

Their motions are like clockwork by now, taking their assigned places in the courtroom. Mao’s his again with the realization that he's the only Trickstar member alive, surrounded by cruel memoirs of his fallen unitmates. 

“So, what first?” Chiaki speaks first, his hands curled into fists around the railing in front of him. He sounds almost angry, although Mao isn’t surprised-Kanata and Chiaki were inseparable. On either side of him, Midori and Tetora both bear the same grim expression Chiaki has, minus a bit of the intense anger.

“I wanna know what this thing I found was,” Tetora says-albeit more to himself, pulling something out of his jacket’s pocket. It’s a few inches long, an opaque plastic cylinder with both ends closed, one painted a bright red. He turns the object in his hand so the red-painted end can face the circle for everyone to see.

“Well, not this,” he interjects his own statement, pulling his ID card from his pocket before continuing. Tetora seems to be searching for something along the side before there’s an audible click that echoes across the room, and the first year pulls another plastic cylinder identical to the one in his hand. He then puts the red-tipped object he’d found into his own ID card, an affirmative-sounding tone ringing from the card before he holds the second cylinder out towards the circle. 

“This one’s got green on the end, see? But I dunno why.” A silence falls across the room, as no one else can propose an explanation. Out of the corner of his eye, Mao can see someone fidgeting around with something, before there’s another click and a surprised yell as something falls to the ground. It’s Mika, bending over to pick something up off the ground before holding it up—a cylinder, just like the one Tetora had displayed. 

“Uh….’ts blue,” he says, rather awkwardly, and Mao notices that the end of Mika’s is painted a dark blue color, nearly the same color as the ID card itself. Out of curiosity, he reaches for his own card, sliding his thumb along the side until it reaches a small circle that just barely sticks out of the card. How had no one noticed this before? Mao presses down on it, and it takes a bit of force, but soon the circle pops free, revealing yet another one of the strange, plastic cylinders, painted the same shade of blue on one end. 

“Mika-chan, did you try turning your card on?” Arashi asks from somewhere to Mao’s left, and a few moments later he hears the sound of a device being powered up from the right. 

“Huh?” Mika’s surprised exclamation causes Mao’s head to turn towards him, where the other second year is staring down at his ID with a look of utter confusion. “‘Ts all fuzzy ‘n stuff…” he mumbles, turning the card’s screen out to the circle nonetheless. True to what Mika said, the screen only displays grey and black static, with the English words ‘NO DATA’ written across in red capital letters.

“Kagehira, put this in your ID. Don’t mix them up.” An affirmative noise from Mika follows Shu’s stern command. Mao sees the flash of green paint on the end of the cylinder before Mika takes it, quickly concluding that the cylinder Shu handed over must be his own. Mika does as he’s told silently, staring intently at the screen before it lights up and by extension lights up his eyes, a look of confusion settling onto his face.

“‘S Oshi-san’s,” he explains, turning the card out towards the circle. Shu’s face is very clearly displayed across the screen, and the room seems lost for words for a moment. Surely, there’s a conclusion to be had, but the first person to reach it is...Chiaki.

“Nagumo.” His hand is held out towards the first year, staring at him with a bit of surprise on his face, as if even Chiaki himself isn’t completely sure of what he’s doing. Tetora stares at the hand in question before handing over the cylinder--the green-tipped one, not the red one. Green, blue, and red….funny, aren’t the school uniform ties for different classes those same exact colors? Of course, green, red, and blue are common colors, but it’s quite the convenient parallel to draw. If that’s the case, Mao’s blue-tipped cylinder fits the pattern, along with Tetora’s red one, so the one he hands over to Chiaki has to belong to a third-year.

“Morisawa-senpai, do you think these are data chips?” Mao asks. In the time it takes for Chiaki to switch out the cylinder currently in his card, his eyes dart around the room, looking to see if any of the third years look nervous or guilty--none do, of course, but it was worth the momentary observation nonetheless. Chiaki nods, wordlessly, his face falling completely as his eyes register who shows up on his ID. A moment later, in what seems to be a fit of panic, Chiaki ejects that supposed chip and puts his own back in, shaking the unknown user’s before looking around the circle and eventually handing the chip back to Tetora, who stares at it like it’s just turned into some kind of bug.

“See for yourself.” Before Tetora can even ask who’s face showed up, Chiaki gives him that short order. He gives a short, energetic nod before switching the ID chip in his card with the one originally found outside, and the room falls quiet enough to hear the beep as the data successfully loads. Just as Chiaki’s had, Tetora’s face falls with quite the dramatic shift in expression, his fingers fumbling around the sides of the card before it clatters to the ground, screen side down.

“Taichou?” Tetora’s head turns to where Kuro stands, his previously horrified look now shifting into something more disbelieving. He seems to struggle with words for a moment before hanging his head instead.

“Yeah? Spit it out, Tetsu.” Upon hearing Kuro speak, Mao immediately reaches for the timeline he’d stowed away inside his jacket pocket before the trial’s beginning.

“You...what the hell?” The ID card in Tetora’s hand drops to the floor, the first-year nearly flinging himself over the railing as he leans across to stare Kuro down, who doesn’t even flinch under the sharp amber gaze. “You’re not a murderer!” He shouts, and Mao nearly flinches back from the sound. Tetora’s hands curl even tighter around the railing in front of him so tightly that Mao worried his fingers might just snap.

Kuro stares back at Tetora, arms crossed but his posture proud. In that silent moment, Mao takes out the sheet of paper where he’d hastily scribbled down a bunch of times and names in an attempt to make a patchwork timeline of the events leading up to the murder--and much to his dismay, Kuro does, in fact, fight right in to the murderer’s shoes. He clears his throat, then thinks better of interjecting. This isn’t his fight anymore, is it?

“If that’s what ya think,” Kuro responds. “Don’t forget, Tetsu, I’m a brute.”

As if looking for another logical conclusion, Tetora steps back from the railing and picks the ID card he’d dropped back up, hitting it against the heel of his hand a few times as if that will cause the face on the screen to change. It’s clear, however, by the look on Tetora’s face growing more and more frustrated, that nothing changes.

“Kiryuu?” Chiaki’s voice adds to the confusion that Tetora’s brings, and it’s in that moment that Kuro’s poker face breaks for a slight moment, teeth dragging across his lower lips for a moment so fast that Mao nearly misses it.

“Yea, Morisawa?” The words come out almost sounding like a threat, and the expression on Kuro’s face twists into something more bitter than nervous, like one would expect out of somebody being accused of murder in a life-or-death situation.

“You..you’re not a brute, Kiryuu. Do not say that.” But instead of agreeing with Chiaki, Kuro’s arms cross a little tighter, a laugh that matches the bitterness of his expression escaping him. At the sound of that laughter Chiaki flinches back, something about it clearly affecting him in a way that Mao can’t understand, especially not from across the courtroom.

“Can ya really say that, Morisawa? I killed your best friend. I held him under that damn water and watched him drown. Ain’t that brutish?”

The courtroom falls into a stifling silence. Did...did Kuro just admit to murder? On one piece of evidence? Maybe it’s a guilty conscience, or maybe Kuro simply knows that he’s going to be caught on way or another. It’s just like what Hokuto did, Mao realizes--admitting the murder before he can be caught instead. That thought is enough to make his heart twinge, along with the emptiness of the spaces around him--he’s all alone now, right?

There’s a strange kind of resonance he can feel with the tears that he can see streaking Chiaki’s face. It’s beyond strange, knowing that someone as endlessly positive as Chiaki can actually cry. Mao knows he’s seen Chiaki like, fall down the stairs or something and come away laughing, get hit in the face with a basketball and brush it off with a smile.

“Fufu~”

Mademoiselle’s robotic voice sends a collective chill throughout the room, drawing the attention of each occupant. “I believe it is time we vote, no? My, my, and to think this trial would end so soon….such a disappointment indeed.” The sound of a labored breath draws Mao’s attention to the side of the room where Chiaki and Tetora are, but whatever remark one of them was about to make is (rather intelligently) held in.

The screen in front of Mao lights up, and like clockwork, he selects Kuro’s face with a heavy heart. It’s sickening, how much this action feels normal now--that this hell has become his life, that he’ll sacrifice someone else’s life for his own.

But isn’t that human nature?

After a few more moments of silence, the screen behind Mademoiselle lights up as per usual, spinning with cartoon versions of everyone’s heads until the screen stops with Kuro’s head centered on it, the word “GUILTY” flashing underneath in bright red characters. Surprisingly, Mademoiselle doesn’t speak, doesn’t confirm that they’ve made the right choice, likely because Kuro admitted to the murder himself, didn’t he?

“If there are no remarks to be made--”

“Morisawa.” Chiaki’s head raises at the sound of Kuro’s voice. His hands are curled into white-knuckled fists around the railing in front of him, his jaw visibly clenched. He can't even speak, silent, angry tears falling down his cheeks as he glares at Kuro.

“My sister,” Kuro continues. “If...if you get out of this hellhole. Look after her for me, would ya? You...you’re a good guy, Morisawa. Even if I’m unforgivable, she deserves better.” Chiaki’s eyes are shooting daggers at Kuro before they close, hiding furious brown irises from the crowd. Even from where Mao stands, he can see his hands curling and uncurling against the railing, his shoulders slowly rising and falling with heavy breaths. The emotion he’s displaying can’t be displayed with just one single word, but the intensity of it comes in such strong pulses that Mao can feel it too.

Mao doesn’t know much about Chiaki and Kuro’s relationship. He’s heard bits of it, of course, at basketball practice (because who can’t hear anything Chiaki says, what with how loud he is), but he knows the two are close. They spent a lot of time together during Chiaki’s first year, or so he’s heard, when his upperclassman was supposedly much more reserved and quiet. He also knows that Chiaki is indebted to Kuro—at least, he always speaks highly of him. 

“Yes.” Chiaki finally answers. His voice lacks the usual heroic flair it used to carry, and when his eyes open again, he looks much more somber than angry. Admittedly, it surprised Mao that Chiaki would even consider accepting the proposal--let along actually accept it-- as Kuro killed Kanata. His unitmate. Mao isn’t sure he’d be able to forgive Kuro so fast if he was in Chiaki’s position. It would be like Ritsu killing someone from Trickstar, right?

“I...I’ll make sure she never turns out like you.” The rise and fall of Chiaki’s chest contrasts the sharp tongue he suddenly bears. There’s no surprise, no hurt on Kuro’s face. He knows what he’s done, and he’s seemingly accepted the punishment for taking another’s life without a word, not looking behind him once and not fighting back as Mademoiselle leads him away.

Execution: How To Sew (Human Edition!)

The screen Mao stares at suddenly floods the room with a warm light as it reveals a room that appears much like the living room of a house. Kuro sits in the middle of the room, cross-legged with a peaceful expression on his face and a large cloth in his hands, a delicate, lace-edged fabric that looks a bit like a tablecloth. In one hand rests a sewing needle, sharp and glinting in the glow of the well-lit room.

It’s difficult to make out just what Kuro is doing, starting with small motions as he appears to sew something about the cloth. It’s almost soothing to watch, just enough that Mao finds himself forgetting that he’s watching an execution--that is, until he notices the sharp edge of something hanging at the top of the screen. He’s not stupid, and Mao knows that that thing has to be a sewing needle, but he doesn’t fully acknowledge that face until it falls from the ceiling suddenly, making its home in the middle of Kuro’s thigh. Upon another look, Mao was wrong--it’s a pin, not a needle, given away by the brightly colored, plastic ball at the top of the needle.

By all means, Kuro really should have stopped. It’s clear to see the blood that stains the leg of his pants, pooling on the floor underneath him, and yet he keeps sewing the cloth in his hands as if nothing is happening. And then, another pin falls, this time landing in Kuro’s other leg, the one further away from the camera. Mao flinches at the loud thudding sound it makes, and he can make out the distinct red of blood staining the edge of the cloth Kuro holds.

Just when he was starting to think this couldn’t get any more brutal, a third pin falls from the sky, lodging itself in Kuro’s right forearm, just under his elbow. The cloth in his hands, quite obviously, falls after his arm is struck so suddenly and forcefully, and as if being punished for that mistake, a fourth pin traps Kuro’s final limb to the ground. Mao closes his eyes for a moment, giving himself a break from the bloody disaster he’s being forced to witness.

Well, forced isn’t the right word, is it? He could look away at any given moment, and yet he doesn’t; no one does. Why is that? Is it some weird sort of twisted human curiosity to see how much suffering another can endure? Is it the desire to see someone close for the last time, even if their final moments are brutal and pained? Or are they all going mad now, finally driven over the edge by the conditions of this sick ‘killing game’?

Mao’s thoughts are shattered by the screen changing yet again--the walls of the living room fall away to reveal that Kuro is not on a floor at all, no--he’s on an immense sewing machine, as if he were a piece of fabric to be sewed, and the floor is merely a surface to hold him down. The camera pans out, and there is in fact, a rather large needle being held over Kuro’s chest, one that will likely plunge down into his chest and be the fatal wound.

It’s then that a screen falls in front of the scene. It’s only a thin film, enough to merely block out the details of the grisly scene, but there’s no missing the mechanical whir of a large engine, sounding as the sharp, large needle makes its drop down towards a human being, leaving the survivors with only a humbling thud. 

When the lights in the courtroom are turned back on, the only thing Mao can register is how Chiaki’s pulled Tetora against him, the first year hiding his eyes against Chiaki’s chest as the third year lowers his head.

CHAPTER 6: End

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SURPRISE BITCH I THOUGHT YOU'D SEEN THE LAST OF ME!!!  
> yea long story short my motivation completely went to hell halfway through this chapter and Refused to return  
> but, i think my writing has improved in the meantime??  
> god i'm so sorry kuro ily sweet big boy  
> as always, you can find me on twitter @maolovemaii!!

**Author's Note:**

> uhmmmmm...i'd like to thank my friend devon for helping me with this story! she doesn't have an ao3 but she did a ton to help with the logistical parts of the story, like the plot and even doing a crap ton of research with me to make sure our forensics were somewhat sound! i definitely got a little ocd over than part, oh well..
> 
> help me hate myself even more via the magic of twitter @rltsumao

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [here's to loving life](https://archiveofourown.org/works/8317495) by [rvnqn](https://archiveofourown.org/users/rvnqn/pseuds/rvnqn)
  * [please don't apologize](https://archiveofourown.org/works/10223882) by [yuutsu (2wink)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/2wink/pseuds/yuutsu)




End file.
